Minority and diverse businesses from various industries gathered at the Innovation Symposium held October 25 - 26, 2022 to explore business opportunities and learn cutting-edge ways to adapt and achieve robust growth in the post-pandemic landscape.

Presented by the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation (USPAACC), participants heard from expert speakers and connected with high-level executives from Fortune 1000 Corporations, government agencies, and large nonprofits at the two-day event, held at The Bethesdan Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland.

One of the highlights of the symposium was the CIO & CTO Forum where top tech executives from Hilton, Monumental Sports, Nationwide, Trane Technologies, Virginia Tech, and Wireless Infrastructure Association shared their thoughts on the state of technology across industries, its outlook, and opportunities for small and diverse businesses.

Tech experts and executives from Apple, Bristol Myers Squibb, Mass Mutual, and Meta also participated in other panels, along with speakers from Ampcus, Mirapath, RCI Technologies, Softpath System, Southern California Edison, supplier.io, TalTeam, Uber, Virginia Tech, Walmart, and more.

The symposium kicked off with the Chamber Leadership Alliance training and discussion of the history of business certification, the impact of supplier diversity, and the value and collective power of all the national level organizations that represent today’s diverse and minority groups. Speakers and participants included Wells Fargo, SBA, USHCC, USBC, WEConnect International, Disability:IN, NVBDC, NGLCC, and USPAACC.

At the Employee Business Resource Group (EBRG) Caucus, participants discussed the role of evolving EBRG in building corporate culture – a timely roundtable on how forward-thinking companies leverage diversity, inclusion, and equity to achieve robust growth.

At the “What’s Your Pitch” Innovation Competition, a program created by USPAACC in 2017 to discover new and exciting upstart innovators who could be the “next big thing” to disrupt the marketplace, winners were selected from a group of shortlisted finalists from across the country.

Women in Tech: Women Empowering Women, a forum that featured executive leaders and business owner panelists, delved into giving voice to Asian American women in business to meet, develop skills, make connections, and grow together.

A luncheon, reception, dinner, and exhibition were also held where participants had the opportunity to create meaningful business connections with industry leaders and top-caliber Pan Asian American enterprises through the exchange of innovative ideas, best practices, new and leading-edge tools needed to innovate their business.

For more information, visit uspaacc.com and innovationsym.org