Credit: Erin Robinson | Mimi Phan
Ideas Made to Matter
8 MIT Sloan stories about building an inclusive innovation economy
By
An inclusive innovation economy sounds like a good thing. The combination of technology and entrepreneurship to spur economic growth should support everyone in a society.
Except that it doesn’t. Women and people of color are often excluded from participating in and reaping the benefits of the American innovation economy. Only 2.4% of venture capital in the U.S. goes to all-female founding teams and only 1% goes to Black entrepreneurs. And the promise of American equality is threatened by a system in which white economic privilege is accumulated through racial capitalism, redlining, and access to elite educational institutions.
Throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, MIT Sloan hosted conversations about how to make the innovation economy an inclusive innovation economy. The conversations featured leaders in entrepreneurship, innovation, finance, public policy, higher education, and more. Together they prescribe ideas and actions everyone can use to make a difference within their own communities.
Summaries and key points of each talk, as well as videos of the discussions, are available in the articles below. Find all videos on the MIT Sloan Alumni YouTube channel.