A Silicon Valley icon, technology entrepreneur and philanthropist for more than forty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry. He designed Apple’s first line of products the Apple I and II. Wozniak also influenced the popular Macintosh. During the early 1970s Wozniak worked at several small electrical firms before obtaining a position with Hewlett-Packard Company in 1975 after dropping out of of the University of California Berkely.
In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. with Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. The following year, he introduced his Apple II personal computer, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, colour graphics, and a floppy disk drive. The Apple II was integral in launching the personal computer industry. He is listed as the sole inventor on four Apple patents.In 1983 Wozniak left Apple due to decreasing interest in the day to day running of Apple Computers.
Through the years, Wozniak has been involved in various business and philanthropic ventures. These journeys focus primarily on computer capabilities in schools and stressing hands-on, experiential learning that encourages creativity and innovation by students. Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment.
Wozniak continues to pursue his entrepreneurial and philanthropic interests to this day. In 2017, Steve co-founded Woz U — a post secondary education and training platform focused on software engineering and technology development. He also recently co-founded Efforce — which leverages disparate applications of blockchain technology.
