The conference was held at Bradley International Center on the UCLA campus during August 12–14, 1999. On the record, the name UKC appears for the first time. The meeting, however, followed basically the same format as previous conferences, except that the program format shown in this meeting was adopted by subsequent UKC conferences.

The conference was organized with long-term sustainability objectives: (1) its name had to be generic and comprehensive, (2) it should highlight entrepreneurship and leadership as well as science and technology, (3) it should be held during the summer when schools are out of session, and (4) its sponsorship should be solicited from within the United States. The last point was well taken but has not been verified by the ensuing UKCs to this day. There was no financial support for the UKC from KOFST and KUSCO as a result of the IMF fiasco.