Blacks In Tech

Join us on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 as we celebrate Black History Month.  Our Blacks in Tech event will be exciting and special.

There is a lot of talk about diversity in tech and the lack of African-Americans in the tech industry.  Well, in February we will celebrate our rich history of innovation and discuss the many ways for us to get involved in the tech industry today.

Our guest speaker is J. Ford, PH.D., Mission-to-Market Manager at FIU.  He will traverse our rich history and then talk about current opportunities to create businesses in a new way.

We will also have representatives from the major launch pad programs in the region!    The Broward Innovation Hub and Start-Up Now programs will be on-site.

This is NOT to be missed.

About Dr. Ford - Dr. J. Chris Ford is an experienced researcher and expert in building inclusive innovation ecosystems and programs for technology transfer and commercialization for universities, Federal agencies, corporations, and investors. From 2012-2017, Dr. Ford was an expert consultant and contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with special emphasis on inclusion, technology transfer, and economic development. In this role, Dr. Ford served as a change agent to catalyze the DOE technology commercialization ecosystem while assisting minority and small businesses, impacting underserved communities, and including minority serving institutions. At DOE, Dr. Ford developed a novel Lab-embedded accelerator programs, a four-point inclusive innovation ecosystem development plan, and strategies for intellectual property monetization. Prior to his role at DOE, Dr. Ford was a researcher and entrepreneur in the technical consulting and healthcare sectors. Dr. Ford has more than ten years of alternative energy research experience specializing in battery and fuel cell technologies, and thermodynamic optimization algorithms for energy systems at Georgia Tech, DOE, and the Department of Defense.