i3 - March/April 2020 - 32

Policy

By Heba Mahmoud

P O L I CY N E WS

The Implementing
Diversity from the Top
panel at CES 2020.

Creating an Inclusive
Experience at CES 2020

diverse workforce drives innovation - a key sentiment
that echoed through CES 2020. This year, CTA organized a host of dynamic panel discussions, pitch competitions, luncheons and networking events that connected industry
professionals and tech founders from underrepresented groups.
The Innovation for All program was designed to create an inclusive CES experience for attendees.

Partnerships

While Female Quotient served as an
Equality Partner for CES, CTA also
invited the New Voices Foundation -
an organization focused on building a
more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem for women of color to host a
$100,000 pitch competition on the
Eureka Park startup stage. Evidence
shows startups founded by women
and people of color struggle to receive
funding from venture capital firms.
Recent data from PitchBook shows
that female founders received 2.2% of
$130 billion in VC funding in 2018.
The competition held at CES gave
startups founded by women of color
the chance to gain exposure and the
necessary capital to continue to grow
and create positive change.
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Programming at CES

To continue to move the needle, professionals who prioritize diversity and
inclusion for their businesses participated in a CTA hosted roundtable that
focused on the power of partnerships in
filling the talent pipeline, retaining and
advancing diverse talent and investing in
a diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem. It
was an example of a platform for sharing
and learning best practices through the
collective action of key stakeholders.
CTA member companies and organizations including Anitab.org, National
Society of Black Engineers and the
Society for Professional Hispanic
Engineers, discussed how partnerships
can help fill the talent pipeline, retain
and advance diversity, and build an
entrepreneurial ecosystem.

To showcase effective diversity and
inclusion strategies that help companies
innovate and thrive, CTA introduced an
Innovation for All conference track at the
show. Sessions ranged from diving deeper
into the shift in culture at workplaces to
the impact of investing in diversity. CTA
also hosted a panel on implementing
diversity from the top that featured chief
diversity officers from Walmart, HP and
Bosch who shared best practices for integrating initiatives that create innovative
cultures and result in positive change in
their organizations.
"Using the power of 'yet' can be a powerful tool in this work," said Lesley Slaton
Brown, chief diversity officer of HP.
"Getting organizations to say, 'I'm not
there yet, but I'm willing to learn and correct problems and then hold them
accountable." Ben Hasan, senior vice president and chief of global culture at Walmart
said, "Fix the inclusion piece first, grow
leaders that create inclusive environments
and the other pieces will move forward."

Engagement

To help build the diversity they want to
see, more than 30 companies including
Google, Uber, LinkedIn and MedHaul
invited members of their employee
resource groups to attend CES for the
first time. Participants met with peers at
other tech companies.
CTA also hosted 10 startups to Eureka
Park to help to build a diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem. Founders of these
startups connected with potential partners, investors and customers through
their awarded exhibit spaces and
curated schedule.
Along with Facebook - the official
sponsor of the Innovation for All program - and Springboard Enterprises,
CTA hosted a breakfast celebrating
women in tech. In a fireside chat, Maxine
Williams, global head of diversity at
Facebook, shared key tips to advance
women in the tech sector.
CTA is committed to continuing the
advancement of positive change toward
greater diversity and inclusion at CES
and beyond.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

3/13/20 3:49 PM

https://www.thefemalequotient.com/ https://newvoicesfund.com/ https://nsbe.org/home.aspx http://www.Anitab.org https://nsbe.org/home.aspx https://www.shpe.org/ https://www.shpe.org/

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