Celebrating the Future of Women in Tech at ventureLAB

On March 29, women entrepreneurs, founders from ventureLAB’s Tech Undivided initiative and senior leaders in the hardware and semiconductor industry came together from across the province to celebrate and recognize women in the tech sector. Tech Undivided is an initiative for women tech founders to grow and scale their business and first announced in Fall 2019 through a $1.7M investment from the Government of Canada and FedDev Ontario’s first ever, Women Entrepreneurship Strategy. 

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“At ventureLAB, Inclusivity is one of our 5 core values of our organization’s culture. Led by our 60% diverse and female leadership team, we value diverse opinions, ideas, and perspectives to make better decisions and empower others. Today’s celebration, our Tech Undivided program and our leadership in the semiconductor space, are testaments of our intentional commitment to create a more inclusive tech ecosystem. By reducing unconscious bias we are creating the next generation of trailblazers of women tech leaders, entrepreneurs and founders ,” said Melissa Chee, President and CEO of ventureLAB.

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“I am excited to work with our community of diverse global founders who are at the forefront of imagining and re-shaping a brighter future for all of us.”  - Melissa Chee, President and CEO, ventureLAB

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Celebrating the Future of Women in Tech, brought together founders, leaders and entrepreneurs from across Ontario. We opened the day with a warm welcome from Melissa Chee, followed by our keynote speaker Erin Bury, CEO and Co-Founder of Willful and remarks by Heather Crosbie, Advisor and Portfolio lead for Tech Undivided.  

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The panel, Breaking Barriers for Women in Canada's Tech Sector, was moderated by ventureLAB's own Josée Pharand. The panelist discussion featured, Julia Elvidge, Co-founder of She Boot, Amanada Woon-Fat, Group Director of Analog & Mixed Signal Physical Design at Synopsys, Christine Haen, Director of Hardware Design Engineering at AMD and Linda Zadeh, Founder and CEO of EPIC Semiconductors. 

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“Tech businesses are delivering the products and services that Canadians and the world rely on. We need to continue to keep the tech sector inclusive and diverse, which will keep the industry strong and growing for years to come. Organizations like ventureLAB are providing the support women need to succeed in the tech field because when we build women up, everyone wins,” said the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

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Attendees had the opportunity to hear different perspectives as they discussed the importance of creating more equitable opportunities in the semiconductor industry, the progress that has been made to fostering an inclusive space,  and how they can work together to make their mark as women and entrepreneurs in the tech sector.

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“I’m thrilled to be here today to support women founders and drive the conversation of transforming our future tech ecosystem. This is a highly underrepresented sector and today we are creating the spotlight for women in tech and the semiconductor industry while celebrating their successes so far,” said Erin Bury, Co-Founder and CEO of Willful. “Initiatives like this are central to fostering a powerful network of women entrepreneurs who are working together to foster change and create an equitable and inclusive community for future generations to thrive while increasing representation.”

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We look forward to continue bringing together women in the tech and semiconductor industries to celebrate their achievements and create a more inclusive and equitable future.

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