Core Facts - In 2004, in his sophomore year at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg hacked into Harvard’s student records with some friends to create a site called Facemash—the genesis of Facebook.  - Initially, the site was only available only to Harvard students as a directory of personal information and photos. The Internet site then eventually expanded to other Ivy League colleges, high schools, and then the public at large. The site allows members to keep in touch with friends, meet people with common interests, play games, share photos, links and videos, chat live and transfer money. - Today, Facebook is a global phenomenon with over 300m active users around the world as of May 2009. It is the fourth most trafficked website globally, according to figures compiled by Alexa Internet, and is signing up nearly 1m new members a day, spending approximately 13.9bn minutes on the site according to Nielsen Online.

The site is also popular with developers, who have built more than 52,000 Facebook applications such as “Name that Tune” and “Poker Palace”. - The Economist looks forward to recognising Mark Zuckerberg as this year’s “No Boundaries” award winner, along with seven additional 2009 Innovation Award Winners, at The Economist’s Innovation Awards Ceremony and Innovation Summit, which take place in London on October 29th and 30th, respectively. - The Economist’s Eighth Annual Innovation Summit provides an opportunity for delegates to meet the greatest thinkers and doers of this world in an inspirational setting, take away content relevant to their business and hear from the 2009 Innovation Award winners. This year’s line-up of speakers includes: Bright Simons, Co-founder, MPedigree, developers of a system capable of detecting whether or not medicines are counterfeit, Lesa B. Roe, Director, NASA’s Langley Research Center and Ravi Kant, Vice Chairman, Tata Motors, creators of the world’s lowest-cost car. - Previous years’ winners in the category of “No Boundaries” Innovation include Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia, and Pierre Omidyar, Founder and Chairman of eBay. - Journalists may request interviews and a place at The Economist’s Eighth Annual Innovation Awards Ceremony (29th) at the Science Museum and Summit (30th) at The Dorchester by contacting the press team at Waggener Edstrom on + 44 (0)20 7632 3900 or e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Quotes - Winner’s quote: Mark Zuckenberg, Facebook “Challenging conventional thinking to solve problems in bold new ways has been an important part of Facebook's success, and I'm honoured and humbled to receive this reward in recognition. We'll continue to build on our hacker culture to push technical boundaries and create new and elegant solutions to make the world more open and connected.” - Sponsor's quote: Christine Corner, Partner, Media Team at Grant Thornton Congratulations to Mark Zuckerberg on winning this Grant Thornton-sponsored award for innovation. Mark's contribution to social networking has made a significant impact in opening up the boundaries of communication. The ability to take an idea and capture the attention of, and mobilise, so many people is testament to how innovative ideas can be commercially developed. Grant Thornton fosters innovative solutions and so is extremely proud to present this award to Mark

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