Women take center stage at Tech for Global Good awards

The future of innovation appears to be female, at least based off the roster of honorees at the Tech for Global Good awards ceremony last Saturday night.

Chris DiGiorgio, chair of the Tech Interactive’s board of trustees, proudly announced that this year’s laureates were all organizations founded and led by women, a first in the awards’ 21-year history, which earned a loud roar of applause from the audience at the Signia by Hilton hotel.

As usual, the Tech for Global Good celebration was an inspiring evening, as the crowd of more than 300 people watched videos illustrating how the laureates were working to solve big problems: India-based Strawcture Eco makes building materials out of leftover straw;  MicroByre uses data and robotics to turn bacteria into factories that turn bio-waste — rabbit poop, in one case — into helpful chemicals like life-saving cancer drugs; Goodr uses an app to reduce food waste by connecting restaurants and other venues with nonprofits; and Blue Ocean Barns adds red seaweed to the diet of dairy cows to reduce greenhouse gases by getting them to burp less methane.

Sarah Richardson of MicroByre, Aliya Nealy of GoodrCo, Joan Salwen of Blue Ocean Barns, Shriti Pandey of Strawcture Eco received the awards Saturday night. By the way, the videos — which explain in a really entertaining way how each company got started — are showing at the Tech Interactive in downtown San Jose and on its website, www.thetech.org.

The evening also served as a second chance for LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who was honored with the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award back in March but had to miss the ceremony because of illness. He made good on a promise to appear this fall in person, taking part in an on-stage conversation with Kevin Scott, chief technology officer at Microsoft.

HALLOWEEN HAUNTS: Hayes Mansion — which made its way into Elizabeth Kile’s book, “Haunted San Jose,” because of Mary Hayes Chynoweth’s claim to have psychic powers — is getting into the Halloween spirit Monday with a family friendly event with trick or treating, pumpkin bowling and games on its huge lawn from 5 to 9 p.m. Palm & Ember, the South San Jose hotel’s restaurant, also will be offering themed cocktails for $13. Maybe the ghost of Mary herself will show up for a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Mai Tai or a pumpkin spice espresso martini.

Meanwhile, San Jose’s historic Japantown will be hosting a trio of events appealing to kids and grown-ups for Halloween. On Oct. 29, 12 breweries will be pouring suds at three locations for the Halloween edition of the Beerwalk (www.thebeerwalk.com for tickets.) Then on Oct. 30, Exhibit at JTown will host a family-friendly event with Empire 7 Studios, with art, games, a pumpkin patch and maker exhibits. And then Monday on Halloween, Japantown businesses again will welcome costumed kids for trick-or-treating from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. One definite treat: San Jose Taiko drummers will have pop-up performances throughout the night.

AT THE MOVIES: The eighth annual Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival is taking place this weekend at the AMC Dine-In Sunnyvale 12. The opening-night movie on Friday is “Dealing with Dad,” Tom Huang’s humorous family drama about a trio of adult siblings whose father is suffering from depression. Huang, who directed, wrote and produced the movie, will take part in a Q&A with NBC Bay Area’s Mike Inouye.