Bill Gates urged educators, investors and tech companies to devote time and money to technology that could personalize the school experience and curb the equity gap during a speech that helped close a three-day conference in San Diego on Wednesday.

The co-founder of Microsoft said simply infusing classrooms with new technology is not enough to drive the kind of changes that are desperately needed in schools and colleges nationwide.

“I’m a big believer in the potential of technology,” Gates told the crowd. But he said the key to accelerating innovation in education technology is “deeper engagement with teachers.”

Gates delivered his address on the final day of the sold out ASU+GSV Summit at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, where more than 3,500 attendees met to promote products, cut deals and learn about promising high-tech education initiatives.


Personalized learning initiatives, where teachers use data and technology to customize a self-paced education for students, should be expanded, Gates said. During the next five years, a majority of schools should offer at least one aspect of personalized learning, he told a packed ballroom where audience members documented his speech with glowing phones, tablets and other digital devices.

Earlier in the week, the Vista Unified School District hosted a delegation from the conference to tour its personalized learning classrooms, which have delivered impressive results in just six months. Superintendent Devin Vodicka, who spoke at the summit, said Vista’s pilot program has lead to a dramatic reduction in discipline and increases in academic performance and attendance.

Gates said he often tours schools and colleges on trips that have revealed underserved and disadvantaged students are poised to miss out on their potential. Too many students are unengaged in high school, while college students are often trapped in remedial courses.

“Success will come to the innovators who look at this new majority,” he said. “We want to work with you to close the equity gap in American education.”


Following his address, Gates sat down for a Q&A with Deborah Quazzo, a managing partner at GSV Advisors. She asked him about the future of virtual reality technology in the classroom, among other things.

“School has always been about motivation. If we can use it to draw people in, there is where it can be helpful,” said Gates, who acknowledged that certain technology can serve as a distraction without the proper execution. “I’m sure we will be able to abuse virtual reality as much as we have any (other) technology that’s out there.”

Once dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” the annual summit organized seven years ago by Arizona State University and the GSV Capital investment firm traded Scottsdale for its new venue in San Diego this year.

Along with dozens of expert panel sessions and an impressive speakers series (Condoleezza Rice, author Jim Collins, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and entertainer Common were among them) exhibits featured futuristic products — including drones, educational video games and robots of all sizes that can be programed to glide across dry-erase boards or patrol schools with the ability to detect campus contraband.


Gates infused technology into most of his comments. He largely steered clear of his deep investments and advocacy into charter schools.

However, he revealed his bias toward the charter movement when describing why he visits schools, and what he gets out of the encounters. When Gates wants to witness something innovative or positive, he said he visits charters, including High Tech High, Summit Public Schools and Green Dot — all charters his foundation has helped fund. Visits to traditional inner-city high schools offer “a sense of disengagement.” However, Gates said he was unexpectedly surprised by the “mostly uplifting” experience visiting schools in Appalacia, where he said Kentucky has made impressive investments in schools.

Gates’ influence on public education has been felt in San Diego and nationwide, first with the small high schools movement, which dried up when the startup funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stopped flowing. That reform effort never lived up to the expectations.

Gates invested $2 billion to break up high schools into autonomous academies between 2000 and 2009. The idea was to create a more personalized education for students, but carving up schools lead to problems related to the high cost of maintaining multiple principals and the management of campus programs.