UNCF Brings Silicon Valley Tech Companies, HBCU Students Together at Innovation Summit

4 female college students standing under an eBay sign

Nearly 65 students from 21 historically black colleges and universities participated in the third annual UNCF/HBCU Innovation Summit, Nov. 18-21 in San Mateo, CA.

They toured major companies, participated in forums and met leaders from companies including eBay, Intuit, Pandora, Pinterest, Oracle, Square, Twilio, Yelp and Uber. The Innovation Summit is designed to address Silicon Valley’s gaps in tech diversity and to empower UNCF HBCU students, most of whom are computer science, engineering and information technology majors, to chart STEM-focused paths.

“UNCF aims to establish a consistent presence in Silicon Valley so that technology companies will think of HBCU students first as a pipeline of diverse and qualified talent for recruiting,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, UNCF president and CEO. “Many of the nation’s HBCUs are producing top-tier talent in the innovation economy, and this summit is a way to bridge the gap between these students and Silicon Valley employers.”

To learn more about the program, visit UNCF.org/InnovationSummit.