Tech Talk
05 May Intel’s Diane Bryant on Bringing Diversity to the Tech Sector
How does a woman break through the glass ceiling? In this video from the Re/Code Conference, Intel’s Diane Bryant discusses the pathway to diversity in the tech sector. According to Bryant, Intel is now at the forefront of diversity in tech, with a female as its No. 2 (President Renee James) and Bryant, who runs the second-largest business unit. The company has also committed $300 million to boost its own hiring of women and minorities as well as the overall number of people going into technology. In fact, executive compensation at Intel is tied to achieving the company’s diversity goals by 2020.04 May CAN INTEL SOLVE TECH’S DIVERSITY PROBLEM?
Standing before a large crowd at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich laid out the company’s plan to change the future of technology. He debuted a 3-D printer that’s 10 times faster than any of the others on the market. He chatted with the CEO of iRobot, who rolled onto the stage via a teleconferencing automaton that flaunted Intel’s new emotion-detecting cameras. Then he closed his keynote with a plan that might prove far more challenging than either of those other innovations: Over the next five years, Intel plans to invest $300 million in something called the "diversity in technology initiative," which will aim to bring the company’s workforce to "full representation" by 2020.
01 May Five Ways Obama’s TechHire Initiative Will Drive Diversity in the Industry
President Obama has been vocal about the role that technology will play in creating greater opportunities for all Americans. Private companies like LaunchCode have already been helping people achieve the American Dream by offering upward mobility through technology. The president’s latest initiative on this front, TechHire, dedicates $100 million to train people without technical skills for in-demand, well-paying technical jobs, and match them with employers that have “urgent” needs in fields like cyber security, software development and coding. After TechHire’s unveiling, most of the discussion centered around the impact it would have on middle-class individuals, particularly those without four-year degrees. However, barely any discussion has examined the equally dramatic effect that TechHire will have on the tech industry. Perhaps its biggest contribution will come in the form of some much-needed diversity in the industry. Here are five ways that TechHire will drive greater diversity in tech:30 Apr TECH DIVERSITY A BIG TOPIC AT OAKLAND’S VATOR SPLASH
On April 22-23, Oakland [hosted] Vator Splash at the Kaiser Center and The Port Workspaces by Lake Merritt. During the two-day event, venture capitalists and active angels [educated] startups and investors in a series of panel discussions, “fireside chats” and keynote addresses, as well as launch the final round of a startup competition. Oakland was picked to hold Vator Splash in part because of its growing reputation as a city which wants to address national concerns about tech diversity and equity. “Oakland has emerged as a model for how technology firms can begin to mirror the nation’s racial, ethnic and gender diversity,” said Bambi Francisco, founder and CEO of Vator.