UNCF officials did not suggest outright racism in the lack of African-American high-tech leadership, and they did not attempt to lay blame on anyone for the current state of affairs. Attendees focused on building a new network among themselves for what they called ICE: Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. The goal is to help HBCU students (African-American and not) and faculty turn their innovations into businesses. Sessions involved meet-and-greets with tech industry leaders, panels for sharing best practices, a reception at Facebook in Menlo Park, crash courses in how Silicon Valley does business and a visit to Stanford’s d.school, a design institute that teaches the problem-solving method known as “design thinking.”

The summit is part of a larger initiative in the coming years, and if the partnership works as intended, the complexion of the tech sector could start looking a lot more like the nation of consumers it serves. That might also make good business sense, too: African-Americans and Hispanics are prolific users of consumer technology, especially social media.

“The next Google, the next Facebook, the next Twitter lies in the heads of kids and youth that may or may not look like the majority of folks (in Silicon Valley),” said Chad Womack, who leads the College Fund’s Merck Science Initiative. “But that’s okay. Because ultimately we want an inclusive economy and an economy that grows where all boats are lifted, not just one boat or another.”

Listen to reporter Joshua Johnson’s interview with United Negro College Fund’s senior vice president Karl Reid here:

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Historically Black Colleges Build New Partnerships In Silicon Valley