This coming Thursday 11/1/18 we will be hosting the inaugural Inclusive Innovation Executive Leadership Summit at Capital Factory. This is part of Inclusive Innovation Week happening from 11/1/18 -11/4/18. Doors, registration, and breakfast will open at 8 am and we will be kicking off at 9 am. Lisa Pearson, CMO of Big Commerce and former CEO of Umbel will be our keynote. We will have workshops on unconscious bias training from Google and how to promote yourself in your career by Tanya Tarr. We will have panels on how to drive diversity within your company and how to promote the youth entrepreneurship pipeline.
But if that was not enough, here are the top 10 reasons why you should be there.
- As an executive, VP, or director of a company you will get to hear perspectives that you can take with you and apply inside your company to help drive innovation and a return on the bottom line.
- You get to help shape the landscape of Austin and help it become the leading inclusive and innovative city by being one of the first companies to advocate and lead this movement.
- You will meet new people who will become your allies and partners in the community to help drive this effort.
- Join the ATX 2030 Inclusion Challenge – where Austin’s tech workforce and high growth industry sectors will reflect the demographics of Austin.
- You get to share these learnings with other companies inside your ecosystem and use your peer-influence to help drive change within those companies.
- You get to partner with the University of Texas and its Inclusive Innovation Office to create pilot programs that can help funnel diverse talent into your companies.
- You will get to meet young professionals who will be at the conference and potentially support your workforce.
- Students will be able to meet companies and executives in the community who want to hear from their perspective and build a way to create more inclusivity for them at the table.
- Our reception after the conference will provide you with a great setting to network and build allies who will work with you on moving Austin’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts forward.
- And it’s free thanks to our sponsors Bank of America, UT DDCE, and Capital Factory.
We are looking to have a welcoming, frank, honest, and productive conversation on the steps we need to take as a city to help drive innovation and inclusivity. With Austin leading as one of the top cities for creating startups, yet also facing the challenge of its economic disparities, the time is now and the call to action has arrived.
With Austin’s affordability issues looming every day, we are driving more people from low-income backgrounds outside of our city limits and making it harder for them to be part of this booming economy. We are importing the talent from our coasts but not investing locally at the pace we need to meet the demand that our city will need for the tech and high-growth workforce of tomorrow.
The silver lining is that our community has always rallied together to meet some of our biggest challenges and this is one of those times. This shift will not happen overnight but with a calculated and diligent effort, we can help create a better Austin for tomorrow and not repeat the challenges of Silicon Valley, Boston, Seattle, and New York.
Our Office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at UT Austin is inviting you along with our community partners like Bank of America, Capital Factory, Impact Hub, Galvanize in creating opportunities for overlooked and underrepresented voices.
On November 2nd through November 4th we will be hosting our 3 Day Startup – Inclusive Innovation at Galvanize as we host 40 college students from diverse backgrounds and share with them the process of creating and launching their own companies.
See you this week!
