The EU seeks to promote female participation in innovation and technology sectors by supporting future women leaders and celebrating women entrepreneurs.
In order to address the gender gap in Europe’s innovation ecosystem, the European Commission (EC) has announced a new initiative called ‘Women TechEU’ to support women leading deep tech start-ups in Europe, and help grow their companies into tomorrow’s deep tech champions. It falls within the scope of the EC’s gender equality strategy that addresses gender biases and obstacles in all spheres of life.
‘Women TechEU’ will offer coaching and mentoring to female CEOs and founders, as well as targeted funding to help take their business to the next level. The Commission is calling for women and men in leadership positions, experienced entrepreneurs, investors, tech experts, researchers and innovators to participate as coaches and mentors. The goal is to break down barriers to success, and foster more women-led tech start-ups and women in senior tech positions in Europe in the years to come.
The pilot scheme will be launched at the European Research and Innovation Days on 23-24 June 2021. This will support a first cohort of up to 50 promising deep tech start-ups from EU Member States and Associated Countries. The initiative will be funded under the European Innovation Ecosystems work programme of Horizon Europe.
The EC is focusing on deep-tech start-ups given the particular obstacles and opportunities in this field. Because of their basis in scientific research, deep tech start-ups tend to have longer R&D cycles, can be more capital intensive than other start-ups with a “shallower” technology base, and can be riskier for an investor to finance. Women in deep tech often face the additional hurdle of gender bias and stereotypes, particularly prevalent in sectors like technology.
In addition to promoting future women leadership in technology, the EC also seeks to celebrate current leaders, by means of the Women Innovators Prize. The 2021 edition, which has just been launched, will be awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon 2020, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to the market. The three winners in the main category, chosen by an independent expert jury, will receive €100’000 each. A fourth prize of €50’000 will go to a promising ‘Rising Innovator’ aged 30 or younger.
Actors outside the EC are also moving to support the gender equality agenda in technology. The European Cybersecurity network SPARTA has issued a best-practices guide to attract and retain women in cybersecurity teams. Much as in deep-tech, the cybersecurity field is poorly diversified, with women only constituting 20% of the workforce worldwide. The guide diagnoses the problem in terms of the competitive, gamified, and male-dominated cybersecurity environment, which dissuades women from working in the sector.
The guide provides resources to better understand the source of problems surrounding recruitment and retention of women in cybersecurity. It also offers principles to help companies in their efforts to diversify their workforce. These include communicating to break down the field’s reputation as overly gamified, technical and competitive to emphasise instead its interdisciplinary and diverse aspects. Images and messages should be more inclusive and gender-sensitive and ensure the visibility of women.
Beyond communication, the sector should close the gender pay gap, empower women and provide support through the building of networks and nurturing leadership skills. Indeed, to echo the EC initiative in deep-tech ecosystems, SPARTA highlights mentorship programmes as an excellent way for companies to start down this road of women empowerment.