Core to Skysong Innovations’ service to the ASU community is its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Skysong Innovations Seat At the Table (SEAT) initiative focuses on promoting research commercialization opportunities among underrepresented faculty, with a focus on Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and women. SEAT strives to raise awareness and make accessible technology transfer education, training, and opportunities for historically marginalized communities internal and external to the ASU community.

All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shadow.

Leo Tolstoy

Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one other’s uniqueness.

Ola Joseph

We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.

Malala Yousafzai

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King Jr

The time is always right to do what is right

Martin Luther King Jr

We are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

Amanda Gorman

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

John F. Kennedy

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.

Maya Angelou Poet, Memoirist, and Civil Rights Activist

All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shadow.

Leo Tolstoy

Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one other’s uniqueness.

Ola Joseph

We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.

Malala Yousafzai

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

MLK Jr

The time is always right to do what is right.

MLK Jr

We are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

Amanda Gorman

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

John F. Kennedy

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.

Maya Angelou Poet, Memoirist, and Civil Rights Activist

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

Maya Angelou

Goals: SOAR

Consider this page your primer for launching your ASU-linked startup.

Skysong Innovations Community

Acknowledge the importance of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative (DEI) efforts throughout the organization, noting that initiatives are most successful when they are also implemented internally

Participate within the local community to advance inclusiveness through STEM-based initiatives for our younger generations to ensure the success of Arizona and our nation

Outreach

  • Enhance outreach to provide underrepresented ASU faculty and staff the opportunity to advance innovation and result in real-world impact
  • Actively engage and collaborate with established ASU associations affiliated with the Office of Inclusion and Community Engagement
  • Provide in-person events once it is safe and responsible to do so

Advancement

  • Continue the effort to innovate the Skysong Innovations model, working with ASU underrepresented staff and faculty to ensure SEAT’s initiatives are successful
  • Achieve constant progress by continuous meetings with ASU associations affiliated with the Office of Inclusion and Community Engagement to ensure sustainable attention to the SEAT mission
  • Always ask for feedback on how to improve and never be satisfied

Results

  • Increase interaction with ASU’s underrepresented researchers to ensure their innovation has societal impact, thus improving Skysong Innovations’ impact and ASU’s service to its community
  • Encourage women and minority-led startups to help grow our local Arizona economy

Resources

Arizona State University is deeply committed to positioning itself as one of the great new universities by seeking to build excellence, enhance access and have an impact on our community, state, nation and the world. Learn more: https://inclusion.asu.edu/

Because words aren’t enough. ASU Enterprise Partners proudly stands beside ASU and commits to building a more just, equitable, diverse and inclusive culture. We are working to recognize and address our shortcomings and hold ourselves accountable for setting and achieving thoughtful goals, initiatives and metrics.

Learn more

The National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students.

Public spaces and third places are more welcoming to all when we celebrate our shared humanity. By understanding each other, we deepen connections. To encourage more meaningful conversations on this topic, leaders at Starbucks reached out to the experts at Arizona State University to create this 15-course curriculum, designed to address bias through understanding the human experience.

This report updates the USPTO’s 2019 report on U.S. women inventor-patentees and provides new information on women’s participation in the U.S. patent system, finding, among other things, that women make up an increasing share of all new entrants to the patent system.

The Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success (SUCCESS) Act of 2018 directed the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in consultation with the administrator of the Small Business Administration, to prepare a report that:

  • Identifies publicly available data on the number of patents annually applied for and obtained by women, minorities, and veterans
  • Identifies publicly available data on the benefits of increasing the number of patents applied for and obtained by women, minorities, and veterans and the small businesses owned by them
  • Provides legislative recommendations for how to promote the participation of women, minorities, and veterans in entrepreneurship activities and increase the number of women, minorities, and veterans who apply for and obtain patents.

Equalize is a virtual mentor program and pitch competition designed by Washington University in St. Louis to take national action around the disparity of women academic inventors forming university startups. Learn more: https://equalize.wustl.edu/

  • “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo
  • “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son” by Tim Wise
  • “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo