Darlene Damm is Faculty Chair, Global Grand Challenges at Singularity University in Silicon Valley. She has spent nearly two decades working on moonshots and initiatives designed to solve our world’s toughest social problems and empower people to create abundant futures.
At Singularity University, Darlene focuses on helping people understand how exponential technologies are creating abundance in the global grand challenge areas, as well as articulating and preparing for new social challenges created by exponential technologies including technological unemployment, inequality, and ethical issues.
At Singularity University, they’re unleashing a generation of women who are smashing through barriers and starting some of the most ambitious technology companies on the planet.
Their flagship program, the Global Solutions Program, has historically brought 80 entrepreneurs from around the world to Silicon Valley for 10 weeks to learn about exponential technologies and create moonshot startups that improve the lives of a billion people within a decade.
After nearly 10 years of running this program, they can say that about 70 percent of their successful startups have been founded or co-founded by female entrepreneurs This is in sharp contrast to the typical 10–20 percent of venture-backed tech companies that have a female founder, as reported by TechCrunch. And how exciting is this sisters from around the world?
Darlene has a broad background spanning across both technology and social change. In 2012 she founded DIYROCKETS, the first company to crowdsource space technology, and in 2011 was an early co-founder of Matternet, one of the world’s first companies using drones for commercial transport and delivery of medical goods in the developing world.
Darlene spent over a decade working in Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, East Asia and the US on educational and economic programs that empowered youth and helped bring developing nations into the global economy.
She received her bachelor’s degree in History from Stanford University and her master’s degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins SAIS. She was a Fellow with Japan-US Community Education and Exchange and a graduate of Singularity University. She holds a patent and regularly speaks around the world and publishes on the topic of technology, innovation, and social change.
We are so unbelievably excited about Darlene’s work with Singularity University and the exponential change they help incubate and develop for our world recognising the power of women founding or co-founding these massive impact companies, that are shaping the future of our world.

You can contact Darlene at her email address: darlenedamm@gmail.com.