How Today’s STEM Education Leads to Tomorrow’s Female Founders

Nov 19, 2019 7:00 PM ET
Campaign: STEM Education

Audio File

Qualcomm loves to make long, industry-changing bets. It’s why we created STEM engagement programs, like Qualcomm® Thinkabit Lab™ , that encourage students to pursue STEM careers in the future. It’s also why we set up Qualcomm Ventures, our investment arm that supports dozens of up-and-coming tech companies that are changing the way the world connects.

Earlier this summer, Qualcomm Ventures hosted its first annual Female Founders Summit, inviting ten female-led start-ups to compete for a chance to win $500K and the potential for additional funding and mentorship. The winning company was Blue Canoe Learning, which combines brain-based methodology, speech recognition, and AI in a mobile app to help non-native English speakers speak the language with confidence.

In this episode, we caught up with a few of the summit’s attendees: Varsha Tagare, the managing director of Qualcomm Ventures; Susie Armstrong, the SVP of Engineering at Qualcomm; and Sarah Daniels, the CEO and co-founder of Blue Canoe Learning. We discussed their favorite parts of the Female Founders Summit and the importance of STEM when encouraging diversity in the tech industry.

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