News 2

15 Jul The tech business week: Fitbit’s IPO and diversity in STEM

Fitbit’s IPO values company at US$6bn as stock rises by half The Fitbit IPO was pretty successful, with share prices up 48pc on close of trading seeing the wearable giant valued at US$6bn. The San Fransisco company was always going to draw in interested investors given its position at the top of the burgeoning wearable market. It’s actually leading that sector by so much that it’s probably only the Apple Watch figures, when they are officially announced, that will reel it in.

14 Jul Digital Grass event promotes inclusion in civic innovation

“What does civic innovation mean to you, and how would you define it?” Michael Hall, co-founder of Digital Grass, posed this question to a panel of civic innovators at The LAB Miami last week at “The Big Business of Civic Innovation.” Digital Grass, a Knight Foundation grantee and technology and innovation firm, sponsored the event to help discover the necessary steps to keep local innovators in South Florida while maintaining diversity in the community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The event’s panel included locals Matt Haggman, Pandwe Gibson and Armando Ibarra in addition to special guest speaker Carla Mays, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and ecosystem builder. Mays took the first attempt at answering Hall’s question.

14 Jul Tech companies spend big money on bias training—but it hasn’t improved diversity numbers

Facebook recently redoubled its efforts on bias training when its diversity numbers barely budged from last year, now at 16% female, 3% Hispanic and 1% black among its tech workers. The company reworked its Managing Bias course to be “harder hitting” and is “rolling it out to our teams across the world.”