Dr. Eli Harari, founder and retired chairman CEO of Israeli flash storage firm SanDisk, is to be honored by the United States with a National Medal of Technology and Innovation. This award is the United States’ highest honor recognizing achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology. The award will be given to Harari, along with six other innovators, by US President Barack H. Obama later this year.
The White House announced that Harari would get the medal last week. Commenting on the award, Obama said that Harari and the other winners “have expanded our understanding of the world, made invaluable contributions to their fields, and helped improve countless lives. Our nation has been enriched by their achievements and by all the scientists and technologists across America dedicated to discovery, inquiry, and invention.”
Harari’s vision for SanDisk and flash memory began more than 26 years ago, the company said. Throughout the years flash memory innovations have transformed and enabled new markets and devices from digital photography to USB drives to smart phones, tablets, and thin-and-light notebooks, and SanDisk has been at the forefront of that transformation. Flash memory is on track to become the most widely used memory technology in the world over the next decade, and the company will be helping to usher in that era as well, Sandisk said.
“We’re now connected in ways that would not be possible without the technologies that Eli helped pioneer and we’re well positioned to take on new market segments such as enterprise data centers,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk. “Eli has had a profound impact on the entire technology landscape, and in doing so, has truly changed the world as we experience it today. His lifelong intellectual and technical achievements are well-deserving of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.”
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created by statute in 1980 and is administered for the White House by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office. The award recognizes pioneers who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness, quality of life, and have helped strengthen the nation’s technological workforce.
The history of how flash storage was invented, developed, and made available on a global scale is largely the history of SanDisk Corporation, according to SanDisk. Harari has continuously played multifaceted roles over a span of 23 years as inventor, entrepreneur, leader, public company CEO, and industry visionary. From a start-up in 1988, SanDisk now employs more than 8,000 people worldwide, has over 5,000 patents and $6.5 billion in annual sales.
