{"id":141148,"date":"2021-08-30T14:15:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T18:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staging.refreshmiami.com\/?p=141148"},"modified":"2021-08-30T14:15:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T18:15:50","slug":"miami-dade-college-elevates-antonio-delgado-to-key-role-in-tech-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refreshmiami.com\/miami-dade-college-elevates-antonio-delgado-to-key-role-in-tech-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dade College elevates Antonio Delgado to key role in tech ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Dade College leader Antonio Delgado has a message for local companies, large and small: \u201cWhen you need tech talent, you can find it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delgado now has a much bigger pulpit. Miami Dade College<\/a><\/u> has named him Vice President of Innovation and Technology Partnerships, a new position designed to further the college\u2019s mission in Miami\u2019s burgeoning tech ecosystem. Delgado is well known in Miami\u2019s tech community, previously serving as MDC\u2019s dean of School of Engineering, Technology and Design (EnTec), which has been on a tear creating new programs in emerging technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his new role, Antonio will focus on building new and expanded strategic alliances in Miami\u2019s tech ecosystem, as well as regionally, nationally, and internationally, so the College can continue fueling the technology talent of the future today and helping students expeditiously enter the workforce with quality jobs and careers,\u201d said MDC President Madeline Pumariega in a letter to faculty announcing the new role.<\/p>\n

It’s a role Delgado is excited about taking on at the nation\u2019s most diverse institution of higher education, full of first-generation and second-generation immigrants. That experience is his experience, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiami is the city where you can make the American Dream happen,\u201d says Delgado, who is Cuban and came to Miami 10 years ago after earning a Master\u2019s in London. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m here for \u2013 changing lives with pathways for economic mobility,\u201d<\/p>\n

He saw lives changed first-hand during the pandemic, like the small business owner whose service business didn\u2019t survive the pandemic but he went to MDC to learn cloud computing skills and is now working with Amazon.<\/p>\n

In fact, EnTec actually increased enrollment during the pandemic as more South Floridians used the time to reskill or skill-up in technology fields.<\/p>\n

As dean, Delgado established partnerships with global players in tech, including Amazon, Tesla, IBM, Microsoft, SoftBank and Google. He launched the Cybersecurity Center of the Americas, the Cloud Computing Center, and the Electric Vehicle Training Center at MDC, and helped secure more than $15 million in prestigious grants from the National Security Agency, the National Science Foundation, Mozilla, Google.org and other organizations. Prior to his role as Dean of EnTec, Delgado managed technology programs for The Idea Center and served as Generation IT Program Manager and Lead Instructor for the McKinsey Social Initiative at MDC.<\/p>\n

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The Cybersecurity Center at Miami Dade College.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his new role, Delgado will work to further connect MIami Dade Collegev – and it\u2019s more than 100,000 students – to the tech community \u201cto make the ecosystem stronger, promote what we\u2019re doing and make sure that our message is heard by a lot of companies and locals who say we don\u2019t have enough talent,\u201d Delgado said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Miami Dade College, we\u2019re listening and creating the talent that the workforce needs, diverse talent with in-demand skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be skills in Cybersecurity<\/a>, Cloud Computing, data science<\/a> and other emerging technologies. Indeed, applied AI training has been and will continue to be a big focus at MDC, he said. \u201cWe hear a lot about demand for artificial intelligence  — for example, every company Softbank is investing in is crying for talent in AI. That is key for our vision moving forward.\u201d  Delgado wants MDC to supply talent to companies of all sizes.<\/p>\n

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Cloud Computing Center at Miami Dade College, pr-pandemic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe local startups are growing and we want to make sure we can produce talent exactly with the skills that they need,\u201d Delgado continued. \u201cAs the companies scale, we want to be the A-team for their workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means partnering with IBM<\/a><\/u>, Microsoft, Google, Facebook<\/a><\/u>, AWS, Tesla and SoftBank to bring in their expertise \u201cand put those skills in the hands of our students to get them ready and get them certified,\u201d Delgado said, noting that students don\u2019t always need a degree to land a good-paying entry level job. Certificate programs are fast and tailored to the skills gaps.<\/p>\n

Delgado also said his new role will also entail making sure the Idea Center, Miami Dade College\u2019s entrepreneurship incubator, is strengthened and best leveraged to help students launch their own businesses in tech. He said he wants MDC to be there for the next Lula, the startup founded by locals Michael and Matthew Vega-Sanz<\/a><\/u>. The brothers  attended MDC but didn\u2019t get immersed in technology and entrepreneurship until they went to Babson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a college for first generation and second generation immigrants who have ideas but they don\u2019t know about the resources. Miami Dade College\u2019s Idea Center on the downtown Wolfson campus can expose them to those opportunities while also being a space for the whole community at its central location,\u201d Delgado said. Recently MDC, along with FIU and University of Miami, also teamed with SoftBank<\/a><\/u> to help students gain startup operational skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a wave,\u201d continued Delgado, referring the Miami Movement sparked by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez\u2019s \u201cHow Can I Help?\u201d tweet in December that has brought hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and tech professionals to South Florida. \u201cWe are here to make sure that the tide is always going up. As an ecosystem we are stronger together and the Idea Center will be a connector to make that happen,\u201d Delgado said.<\/p>\n

Delgado says he still hears far too often that there\u2019s a lack of tech talent in Miami, but that will change. \u201cWhen you hear stories every week of local diverse talent from our local institutions feeding these companies, that will change perceptions. It takes a village, but showing by doing is how you change the perception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow @ndahlberg on Twitter and email her at ndahlbergbiz@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n

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