Why does telling stories about technology matter?

In 2022, The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® launched their first series produced by BBC StoryWorks, the BBC’s award-winning branded content division. The mission was to bring stories about impactful technology to audiences around the world. Now – two series, over one million visitors to the hub-site on BBC.com and 200 million social media impressions later – the importance of that mission should not be overstated. Here the CTA and BBC StoryWorks reflect on the history of their partnership and what they’ve learned about tech storytelling.

Technology’s Golden Age: a turning point

The CTA-BBC StoryWorks partnership began in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, the tech industry was navigating the reverberations of a global pandemic which sped up digital transformation considerably. This rapid change also highlighted how some people are exposed to digital exclusion – exacerbated by age, region, socioeconomic status and disability – that kept them from accessing work, healthcare, and connections to friends and family.

Technology can be a great equaliser, and the pandemic highlighted that there was still work to be done to accelerate adoption, access and inclusion in technology. Could technology be made to be more inclusive, and solve other global challenges?

CTA set out to explore the role of technology in solving challenges related to the global aging population. “By 2050, more than 2 billion people will be over the age of 60, while the number of those over 80 will double. We urgently need to get technology to those most in need,” says Steve Ewell, executive director of the CTA Foundation. There was an opportunity to use stories shine a light on the innovations helping us live longer – but also better – lives.

Launched in 2023 in response to those challenges, Technology’s Golden Age showcased innovations that “support people in the age of the 100-year lifespan”. What started as a focus on innovation for older adults expanded to a broader conversation around how technology could design things with all parts of society in mind.

One story, produced in partnership with AARP and Rendever, focused on how virtual reality was able to transport care home residents to new adventures and exciting encounters from the comfort of their own home. Another explored how Google employees KR Liu and Laura D’Aquila, who are both hard of hearing, built and used some of Google’s Live Transcribe and Google caption tools to aide in the day-to-day lives of people with hearing needs.

These were just two of many stories showing the value of inclusive, accessible design. Others included a musical technology app that helps older adults sing, a program helping disabled students integrate at school, and an online platform enabling retirees to pursue lifelong learning. “There are incredible innovations out there – but there’s a gap in awareness. It was amazing to be able to bring to screen some technologies and experiences that are perhaps less well-known but are no less important,” reflects Ewell.

The Human Component: a storytelling imperative

The success of the first series showed clear audience appetite for stories about technology, aging and inclusivity.

The BBC team wanted to dig deeper into what their audience care about, and their attitudes to technology. Lara McNeil, the BBC StoryWorks Development Lead for the project, reflects on what the team learned from audience insights from the first series: “The data tells us that our global audiences have complex and intersecting concerns – from extreme weather events, and social inclusion to cost of living and healthcare – and there’s high public faith in the power of technology to respond to those multifaceted challenges.”

Those findings mirror broader understandings around technology as a tool to respond to modern environmental and social challenges. A Force for Good report last year concluded that the delivery cost of the sustainable development goals could be reduced by up to 40% – $55tn (£42tn) – simply by deploying existing technologies, and last year, the CTA announced technology as a new eighth pillar of the Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign.

Ketan Patel, director of HS4A and chairman of Force for Good, notes: “The addition of technology as a human security pillar is really testament to the immense power of technology as a tool to advance human wellbeing in all its dimensions. But we urgently need to remind ourselves to focus in on the “human” part of that, and centre people in that conversation.”

“Our films perform significantly better with audiences when we take a character-centric approach,” McNeil adds. “This is particularly notable in the technology sector: we know that a story that explores how an innovation directly impacts an individual or community has a better chance of reaching and resonating with audiences.”

With humans as the focal point, The Human Component series launched earlier in 2024. The series took a character-based approach to illustrate how technology can enhance the human experience while closing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals investment gap. 

From healthcare inequity and unemployment to climate change and food insecurity, the innovations highlighted in this series addressed some of the most pressing global concerns: we followed children learning maths skills through coding; a French start-up as they created plant-based chicken being used by a Michelin-starred chef at her restaurants; and the life-changing impact of augmented reality technology for a man living with Parkinson’s disease. “Our two series with BBC StoryWorks showed real-world examples of how technology is solving the world’s biggest challenges of technology innovation that's making our planet more sustainable and bringing people closer to their communities,” says Melissa Harrison, CTA’s VP of Communications and Marketing.

That human-centric approach has been a huge hit with audiences. In the first two months, this series had reached 60 million people on social media, with nearly four million video completions – and counting. That online buzz has extended to on-the-ground activations: at CES 2024, CTA’s CEO, Gary Shapiro delivered his Opening Keynote with a film produced by BBC StoryWorks to celebrate 100 years of CTA. The same event saw a fireside chat between BBC StoryWorks and CTA teams which gave a sneak peek of the films and insights behind the featured tech, and BBC StoryWorks creative director Nickie Omer led a compelling discussion during the pitch competition on why “founders should be storytellers”.

The next chapter

The activations will continue on Thursday 24 September at the BBC Studios New York offices, where the BBC StoryWorks storytelling team will reflect on the series and share lessons on how to successfully tell human stories about technology. A panel will take place alongside a content showcase and networking event for industry stakeholders – including previous partners across the series such as Vodafone Foundation, Cisco, Panasonic and Google.  

The BBC StoryWorks team welcomes feedback on the stories and ideas covered in The Human Component campaign. If you have a story you’d like to see brought to screen as part of the campaign in the future, the team would love to hear from you. 

To share your ideas or stories, or register interest in next week's event in NY, please email lara.mcneil@bbc.com.