
FORTUNE – As innovative as Silicon Valley may be -- churning out fresh ideas, products, and services --when it comes to giving credit where it's due, women generally remain woefully under-recognized.
It's not overt sexism, so much as unconscious bias on the part of some people now, explains Megan Smith, vice president of Google X, the futuristic research lab developing not-so-secret projects like self-driving cars, Google Glass, the wearable computing device worn like eyewear, or Project Loon, a breathtakingly ambitious plan to bring 3G-level Internet connectivity to millions via thousands of solar-powered, high-pressure balloons navigating through Earth's stratosphere. Smith is one of over 50 women and men speaking at The MAKERS Conference this week, part of a larger initiative to tell women's stories.