Creative Commons: Suzie Katz, 2010

SXSWedu may only have two years under its belt, but the education conference has attracted some star power: Bill Gates.

The soft-spoken philanthropist and founder of Microsoft gives the keynote talk today. If you want to watch live, it will be available streaming here.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year on education worldwide. In the past few years, Bill Gates has sharply criticized America’s education system. Last year, at the 2011 TED Conference, Gates spoke out about waste at public schools and problematic automatic salary increases for teachers based on seniority.

Gates will likely speak at SXSW about the Foundation’s work in education, which in North America spans from college-readiness research to financial services for the poor. Hot technology topics that might come up include MOOCS, tablets in the classroom and the role of businesses in higher education.

Tune in to 90.1 FM this afternoon to hear the KERA radio Story.