Motorola Solutions hosted a series of events to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), observed today globally.
As part of the company’s continued commitment to diversity of people and ideas, a discussion about inclusion, culture and leadership was held March 7 featuring the leaders of two Chicago-based technology companies: Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown and ComEd President and CEO Anne Pramaggiore.
“As a technology company growing our offerings in software and services, we know the importance of diversity – of both people and ideas – in creating new solutions and accelerating innovation,” said Brown.
“Motorola Solutions is committed to fostering an environment and culture that thrives on the diversity of our people and their ideas.”
A cornerstone of Brown’s conversation with Pramaggiore, which was attended by Motorola Solutions employees in-person and virtually, was the importance of education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for young women and other underrepresented groups.
Both Motorola Solutions and ComEd invest in STEM education to inspire the next generation of technology workers as part of their respective philanthropic and corporate responsibility programs.
“With technology and innovation at the core of our business, it is important to encourage a diverse, future workforce that will help us solve the creative and technical challenges of tomorrow,” said Pramaggiore.
“We are committed to creating opportunities to offer hands-on experiences to interest and educate young women in the STEM subjects.”
Over the past 10 years, the Motorola Solutions Foundation has provided more than $45 million in education grants through its “Innovation Generation” program, which supports STEM education-focused initiatives such as Girls Who Code.
(Launched in Spring 2012, Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering sectors. Courtesy of Girls Who Code and YouTube)
Since 2014, ComEd’s nationally recognized, award-winning Icebox Derby has paired young women with ComEd engineers to build solar-powered cars out of old refrigerators in an educational and fun competition.
(Thanks to all of the community’s support, this year’s derby was a solar success and ComEd will be donating up to 6 solar-powered lights across various areas of Chicagoland over the next year, all in honor of this year’s solar-powered derby and our 6 bright and brilliant teams. Courtesy of CommonwealthEdison and YouTube)
In addition to Brown’s conversation with Pramaggiore, Motorola Solutions’ global Women’s Business Council will offer International Women’s Day activities throughout the week at locations in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Poland, Australia and Malaysia, where about 40 percent of engineers are women.
Events include panel discussions, fundraising events and networking opportunities around this year’s theme for International Women’s Day: #BeBoldForChange.
Learn more about the Motorola Solutions Foundation’s support for STEM education at https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_us/about/company-overview/corporate-responsibility/community.html.
