STEM IS CRITICAL to the creation of future businesses – Gartner predicts that by 2018, digital businesses will require 50 per cent less business process workers and 500 per cent more key digital business jobs, compared with traditional models. I really do believe that we are standing on the verge of the next big scientific wave – whether this is in robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, biotech, nanotech, 3D or something else! In 2010, think tank Fast Future released a report and highlighted 20 jobs that we could be doing in the next 20 years. Among them were jobs like nanomedic, vertical farmer, memory augmentation surgeon, narrowcaster and waste data handler! So the reality is that we have to prepare today’s young people for jobs that don’t yet exist. My role is to promote STEM, particularly technology, by hosting coding workshops, speaking about career paths in IT, developing business strategy, mentoring on tech business pitches, talking to graduates, etc. There is no single route to tech entrepreneurship but the key aim should be to develop skills. The future belongs to those who are highly skilled – whether this is through formal qualifications or by simply making it happen – each person has to learn in their own way. MINORITY GROUPS UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM The future also belongs to businesses with teams that are both highly skilled and diverse. McKinsey analysis shows that companies with more diverse workforces perform better financially: gender diverse and ethically diverse companies are 15 per cent and 35 per cent more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile, respectively. Despite the benefits of a diverse workforce, a Race for Opportunity report on ethnic minorities and STEM published in February 2015 revealed that only 13 per cent of the science workforce is women. The conclusion also highlighted that most black and minority ethnic (BAME) students choose medicine as their top choice; there is little social mobility, with the majority of students located at universities in high BAME population areas, STEMNET Technology Ambassador and Diversity UK founder Lopa Patel has spent much of her career promoting STEM and entrepreneurship. These efforts were recognised at the highest level when Patel was presented with a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to the Creative Industries in 2009, and in April 2015 she became the first Asian woman to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. Here she highlights why a highly skilled, diverse and an entrepreneurial workforce is essential to business success Lopa Patel STEMNET Technology Ambassador and Diversity UK founder A DIGITAL FUTURE 16 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION INSIGHT
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STEM IS CRITICAL to the creation of future businesses – Gartner predicts that by 2018, digital businesses will require 50 per cent less business process workers and 500 per cent more key digital business jobs, compared with traditional models. I really do believe that we are standing on the verge of the next big scientific wave – whether this is in robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, biotech, nanotech, 3D or something else!
In 2010, think tank Fast Future released a report and highlighted 20 jobs that we could be doing in the next 20 years. Among them were jobs like nanomedic, vertical farmer, memory augmentation surgeon, narrowcaster and waste data handler! So the reality is that we have to prepare today’s young people for jobs that don’t yet exist.
My role is to promote STEM, particularly technology, by hosting coding workshops, speaking about career paths in IT, developing business strategy, mentoring on tech business pitches, talking to graduates, etc.
There is no single route to tech entrepreneurship but the key aim should be to develop skills. The future belongs to those who are highly skilled – whether this is through formal qualifications or by simply making it happen – each person has to learn in their own way.
MINORITY GROUPS UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEMThe future also belongs to businesses with teams that are both highly skilled and diverse. McKinsey analysis shows that companies with more diverse workforces perform better financially: gender diverse and ethically diverse companies are 15 per cent and 35 per cent more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile, respectively. Despite the benefits of a diverse workforce, a Race for Opportunity report on ethnic minorities and STEM published in February 2015 revealed that only 13 per cent of the science workforce is women. The conclusion also highlighted that most black and minority ethnic (BAME) students choose medicine as their top choice; there is little social mobility, with the majority of students located at universities in high BAME population areas,
STEMNET Technology Ambassador and Diversity UK founder Lopa Patel has spent much of her career promoting STEM and entrepreneurship. These efforts were recognised at the highest level when Patel was presented with a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to the Creative Industries in 2009, and in April 2015 she became the first Asian woman to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. Here she highlights why a highly skilled, diverse and an entrepreneurial workforce is essential to business success
L o p a P a t e l S T E M N E T T e c h n o l o g y A m b a s s a d o r a n d
D i v e r s i t y U K f o u n d e r
A D I G I T A L F U T U R E
16 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
INSIGHT
presumably to keep costs down by staying at home; and that there is a deep divide between men and women on choice of STEM subjects. For example, 82 per cent of the computer science cohort are male and only 18 per cent are women. This means that there is a dearth of female talent for the STEM industry at entry level. This is further exacerbated by lack of promotion, inflexible working conditions, lack of childcare facilities, poorer career progression for women returning after maternity leave and possibly even poor working conditions overall.
There are hidden barriers too: for those working 14 hours a day at the tech coalface, the need to socialise with others like themselves is overwhelming, which essentially creates a ‘men only’ atmosphere. In tech start-ups, run mostly by young men, parity is harder to achieve for older people and women. Let’s remember too that Silicon Valley has yet to produce a female equivalent to Bill Gates (Microsoft) or Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). In their report on women entrepreneurs The Kauffman Foundation interviewed 350 female leaders who identified the lack of advisers (mentors). Elsewhere, female technologists have identified sexual harassment, ageism and sexism as reasons they chose to leave the sector.
DIVERSITY KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESSIn 2012, I founded Diversity UK, a think tank to research, advocate and promote new ideas for improving diversity and inclusion in Britain. The aim is to encourage healthy debate about issues of age, race, gender, sexual orientation and disability discrimination. To date, Diversity UK has undertaken groundbreaking research on glass ceilings in public appointments, hosted roundtables on breaking barriers, held debates on topics like unconscious bias and executive level appointments, added to Lord Davies’ Women on Boards review, and participated in networking events with government departments and executive recruitment consultancies.
As an organisation, Diversity UK has fed back the findings of its research to parliamentarians; we maintain an open dialogue with MPs of all parties and departments on diversity and inclusion issues. I have prepared briefing documents on diversity issues for parliamentarians and have held meetings with MPs on the subject when required.
Diversity UK has consistently asked questions about proposed legislation on these issues; we will raise complaints where we believe there is bias, for example in job descriptions for members of public body boards. As the UK is a member of the European Union (EU), we also challenge parliamentarians on why Britain is lagging behind in adopting best practices that have already been taken up by other EU Member States like France and Germany.
A CALL FOR POSITIVE DISCRIMINATIONEthnic minorities make up 13 per cent of the UK population and many research reports show that they are well represented at lower and middle management levels across the corporate, public and private sectors. However, ethnic representation at senior executive levels and at non-executive director levels is far lower than expected – 7.7 per cent for Public Appointments (2013-14) and 5.7 per cent on FTSE 100 Boards with only 3.5 per cent in the role of chair, CEO or CFO (this is 10 people out of 289 people). This clearly shows that barriers exist in enabling minorities to shatter glass ceilings.
Diversity UK is therefore urging legislators to consider positive discrimination and ethnic only shortlists as a means of correcting this imbalance in the short term. This action, combined with legislation to stop individuals holding more than two public appointments concurrently and preventing incumbents from being reappointed for a combined term exceeding six years, will also help clear pathways for new people to enter the boardroom.
In terms of targets, Diversity UK applauds companies like KPMG who voluntarily publish the gender and ethnic make-up of their employee base and set their own diversity targets. However, legislators should set ethnic and gender targets for the public sector, local government and parliament itself. The Davies review of 25 per cent gender target for FTSE 100 companies is laudable but does little to help ethnic minorities. Diversity UK believes that the UK should adopt the 40 per cent gender target recommended by the EU Commissioner Viviane Reding and should set its own targets for other underrepresented groups like ethnic minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and those with disabilities.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY
In addition to her company and STEM ambassador responsibilities, Lopa Patel is also a Non-Executive Director of the Ethnic Minority Business Group (EMBG) – a not-for-profit organisation established in 2005 to promote the interests of the ethnic minority business community in Britain. EMBG has 2,000 business members in London and the South East, a network of 4,000 contacts nationally and links with key government departments and business networks. Her role is to devise a marketing strategy for the organisation and help EMBG take full advantage of digital platforms.
Patel is also a Trustee of Raha International, an educational charity that supports disadvantaged young people into schooling in Kenya and in other programmes in the UK and India. Her key input at Raha is on strategic direction, governance and fundraising having initiated the ‘Kizito Fund’ to support Kizito Ajoung Ouma through university.
