2014 European Finalists

Congratulations to the finalists for 2014 European Digital Woman of the Year™ Award!

martine  Initially Martine studied philosophy because she wanted to learn about people and life. Afterwards she did a degree in business administration, where she learned about the technical knowledge on the job and discovered that she is more a “techie” than a philosopher. However, according to Martine, it is the combination of her technical insight and philosophical approach that has helped her a lot to become who she is.  Among many other accomplishments, Martine is Member of Executive Committee of BEL20 Company Telenet, Senior Vice president of Telenet For Business, with an annual 350Mio turnover, and responsibility for 300 employees.  She launched CoderDojo Belgium with 25 clubs in Belgium for children from the age of 7, where about 900 children attend coding workshops every month.

cathrin  Cathrin joined DANTE in 1997, after studying a degree in International Business. She had stumbled upon an advert in the Guardian which said: “Not for profit organisation, cutting edge Internet technology, looking for a new member of staff with an international profile.” During the interview Cathrin realised she was more than a little out of her depth. DANTE had 11 employees and was much like a typical internet start-up at the time, albeit in the not-for-profit sector. Their goal was ambitious – to organise and operate a European research and education networking infrastructure. Excited by the challenge and the potential benefits this network could bring to society, she famously stated: “I can learn that” and got the job on the spot.  Among may global accomplishments, Cathrin is project manager of the DEVCO funded AfricaConnect project which builds the first ever telecommunications infrastructure crossing borders in the African continent, and she plays a leading role in the GÉANT project, a collaboration between 41 European partners. GÉANT plays a crucial part in the European Commission’s Excellent Science: e-infrastructures program with a vital role to ensure Horizon 2020 project participants are able to collaborate, share and access data, discuss and learn together, and test their innovations across the network unimpeded.

esther  From a young age, Esther was leaning towards technology. Her family still remembers how she would play for hours with any electronic toy or how enthusiastic she was when assembling a new toy like pirate ship from Playmobil. Throughout, science and mathematics were always a passion for her and it was something that she never lost. When faced with the university studies choice she was told may times that engineering was a difficult path. She also saw that it was a manly male dominated environment. However, she never hesitated and followed her heart even with all the bias that she was faced with.  There was no specific role model that inspired her. It is actually this lack of female role models that drives her today to be a role model herself for people currently working or studying. That also driver her petition to the entertainment industry.  Among many achievements, Esther has launched “WISE EMEA” – ‘Women in Science and Engineering’ is a Cisco employee recourse group which includes 200 members across all countries in EMEA; and WIN, ‘Women in Networking,’ – a group of female technical support engineers that aims to attract, build and retain strong female technical support engineers, which includes than 100 female engineers.

  • Valentina Dagiene, BEBRAS Founder & PhD Professor in Physical Sciences (Informatics), from Lithuania

ValentinaValentina is impassioned about technology for two reasons:  She has had a passion to support rural education with modern technologies since her homeland, Lithuania, became independent in 90s and there was a huge demand to reshape education by integrating modern technologies in schools.  And, she had a wish to support talented children, especially in mathematics and information technology. After Lithuanian independence, Valentina started many initiatives for bringing digital technologies to children, including BEBRAS, an online platform to teach technology to kids that has reached 40 countries around the world and more than 5 million children. She initiated bringing Lithuanians to the international Olympiad in Informatics in 1992.  In the early days, Valentina organized Olympiads in Informatics for school pupils in Lithuania, and then she established the Baltic Olympiads in Informatics in 1996.  She is  founder of two international journals, author of over 200 scientific publications and of 60 textbooks on Informatics & Education of Informatics.

Join us at the 2014 European Ada Award Ceremony – taking place as part of the “e-Skills – Making a Career with Digital Technologies” event on 30 October 2014 in Rome, Italy – where we will announce the 2014  European Digital Girl of the Year™!e-skills_week_logo

 

 

2014 European Ada Awards Launch

Meet Ada Byron Lovelace – from the QUIDOS “Fascinating Stories” Series

Nominations for the 2014 European Ada Awards launched on 4 April 2014 in Athens, Greece, in the context of the “Women and Girls Go Digital!” event, co-organised by ECWT and celebrating the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Nominations for this year’s European Ada Awards – named after the first-ever computer programmer, Ada Lovelace, Lady Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace – are now being accepted in the following categories:

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Deadline for submissions for the European Ada Awards is 16 September 2014 and winners in each category will be recognised at the Ada Awards Ceremony on 30 October 2014 in Rome, as part of the closing event for the 2014 eSkills for Jobs campaign. Please follow the noted links to find out more about each Award.

The international Ada Awards™ recognise outstanding girls and women in digital sectors globally and the organisations that support them. The European Ada Awards™, launched in 2013 by the Digital Leadership Institute (formerly Zen Digital Europe) and its partners – CEPIS, DIGITALEUROPE, ECWT and European SchoolNet – are an official pledge to the Grand Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs in Europe, and have the following objectives:

  • Increase the number of digitally-skilled girls and women in Europe;
  • Increase participation of girls and women in digitally-driven and digitally-enabled studies, enterprises and jobs;
  • Recognise outstanding women and girls in digitally-enabled and digitally-driven studies and careers; and
  • Showcase organisations who are increasing participation of girls and women, particularly in leadership roles, in digital sectors.

For questions or to become a partner or sponsor of the Ada Awards, please contact us.

 

Africa Recognises Digital Woman of the Year

OkelloDr. Dorothy Okello of Kampala, Uganda is Africa’s first-ever Digital Woman of the Year, an honor bestowed upon her at an Africa ICT Days gala ceremony for the Digital Woman Award finalists that took place on 16 November in Yaoundé, Cameroon.  According to Award organisers, Dr. Okello distinguished herself among a vast and talented pool of candidates from across Africa for her work to increase participation of girls and women in digital sectors in Africa and around the world.

Dr. Okello holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Makerere University in Uganda, a Master of Electrical Engineering from Kansas University in the United States, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she received a Commonwealth scholarship.  In May 2000, Dr. Okello founded WOUGNET (Women of Uganda Network) with several women’s organisations in Uganda. WOUGNET is an NGO whose purpose is to promote uptake of information and communication technologies (ICT) among women.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Okello and wishing her a fruitful year as Africa’s first Digital Woman of the Year!

Europe Celebrates First Ada Award-winners at ICT 2013

On 7 November 2013 at Europe’s largest ICT event, ICT 2013, Ms. Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, announced the winners of Europe’s first-ever Digital Girl, Digital Woman and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year Awards. Affectionately known as the “Ada Awards” after Ada Lovelace, in their inaugural year the Awards enjoy the patronage of Vice President Kroes and are an official pledge to the Grand Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs in Europe.

“I am so happy to congratulate these talented women and girls who have achieved great things in ICT,” said Vice President Kroes of the first group of Ada Award-winners. “And I hope they go on to inspire more women to explore the digital sector,” she added.

For distinguishing themselves in digital studies and careers, and for promoting greater participation of girls and women in digital sectors, Vice President Kroes recognised the following individuals and organisations for the 2013 Ada Awards in Europe:

Sasha is founder of both the European Centre for Women and Technology and the Bulgarian Centre of Women in Technology, having launched the latter at end 2012. During her career as a global executive for Hewlett-Packard, Sasha succeeded in attracting key investment in the ICT sector in Bulgaria that resulted in thousands of new digital jobs. She is responsible for launching and actively contributing to a multitude of outreach activities that aim to inspire girls and women to pursue digital careers in Bulgaria and beyond.

14-year-old Amy has been coding for three years and has inspired people of all ages with her keynote speeches at the Raspberry Jamboree, Campus Party EU and Wired: Next Generation. She teaches older pupils how to code during her school lunch breaks and with the Manchester Girl Geeks.

Lune develops her own games and interactive movies with CoderDojo. She designs robots and dreams of becoming an engineer. At nine years of age, she is already a true digital visionary and has a track-record of getting girls her age excited about digital endeavor.

 

The Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft is Berlin’s largest University of applied sciences. In 2009, HTW inaugurated an innovative women-only bachelor program, “Frauenstudiengang Informatik und Wirtschaft”, aimed at increasing leadership for women in technology. The program accepts forty applicants every year and celebrated its first graduating class in 2012.

As part of their award, each girl finalist for the first-ever European Adas received a brand-new HP Slate7 from Hewlett-Packard, and all the finalists are eligible to spend shadowing days at different SAP locations around the world in the coming year. The Award partnership is grateful to HP, SAP and Facebook for their contribution to the European Ada Awards.

The Ada Awards are an initiative of Zen Digital Europe in partnership with the Council of European Professional Informatic Societies (CEPIS), DIGITALEUROPE, the European Centre for Women in Technology (ECWT) and European SchoolNet, and were created to celebrate European female talent in digital fields, promote European role models, and recognise organisations that support diversity in digital sectors.

The Ada Award partners view the ICT 2013 celebration as a major milestone in promoting women in digital studies and jobs in Europe, and hope it will ignite more initiatives attracting and retaining women in these sectors in Europe and beyond.

For further information about the Ada Awards and actvities of the Award Partners, please contact us.

Finalists for African Digital Woman of the Year Announced

Congratulations to the first-ever finalists for the Ada Awards African Digital Woman of the Year!  These candidates stood out against a very talented and wide-ranging group of incredible women, judged on the basis of their background in digital studies and work, on the social, creative and leadership impact they each have as an individual, and their general suitability to be a digital ambassador for all of Africa.

regina-agyareMs. Regina Agyare of Accra, Ghana

Watch Ms. Agyare’s video on her project “Tech Needs Girls Ghana,” and why she thinks science and technology is for everyone, including girls.

 

Ms. Rebecca Enonchong, of Douala, Cameroon

Watch Ms. Enonchong’s video on why and how she promotes greater uptake of ICTs by women in Africa.

 

OkelloDr. Dorothy Okello of Kampala, Uganda

Dr. Okello founded WOUGNET (Women of Uganda Network) with several women’s organisations in Uganda. WOUGNET is an NGO whose purpose is to promote uptake of information and communication technologies (ICT) among women.

CIMG4878 copyMs. Rainatou Sow of Conakry, Guinea

 

 

 

Please join us in congratulating these very deserving women, stay tuned here to learn more about each of them, and get ready to celebrate with us at Africa ICT Days in Youndé, Cameroon on 16 November, when we announce the 2013 African Digital Woman of the Year™!

United Nations ITU Supports African Digital Woman Award

On the heels of a fantastic 2013 European Digital Woman of the Year™  Award campaign, we are thrilled to announce the launch of the African Digital Woman of the Year™ Award!  Enjoy here a message about these awards by Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General of the United Nations International Telecoms Union (ITU):  http://youtu.be/I0n1ITcmuoA

To find out more about the different Ada Award categories, please see below.

To find out what’s happening in your region of the world, please see below.

To support the Awards —  globally, in Europe, the Americas, Asia or Africa — please contact us!

African Ada Awards Jury

Meet the jury of the 2014 African Digital Woman of the Year™ :
landji Jean-Jacques Massima Landji – ITU Representative for Central Africa and Madagascar

 

 

5919-Lres-WMark - Head Shot 2012Ronke Lawal – Business woman running RSL Management Services and the Simone Williams fashion label, Former Chief Executive of the Islington Chamber of Commerce in UK

 

ree3 Reine Essobmadje – Co-Organizer of African Digital Woman of the Year Award, Founder of Evolving Consulting France & Cameroon, Co-Founder of ICT4MDG, Promoter of African ICT Days

Finalists for 2013 European Ada Awards Announced

Congratulations to the first-ever finalists for Europe’s Ada Awards, recognizing top girls and women in digital fields, and the organisations that support them!

European 2013 Digital Woman of the Year™ Award Finalists:

SashaSasha is founder of both the European Centre for Women and Technology and the Bulgarian Centre of Women in Technology, having launched the latter at end 2012. During her career as a global executive for Hewlett-Packard, Sasha succeeded in attracting key investment in the ICT sector in Bulgaria that resulted in thousands of new digital jobs. She is responsible for launching and actively contributing to a multitude of outreach activities that aim to inspire girls and women to pursue digital careers in Bulgaria and beyond.

Carrie Anne is leading change in the way computing is taught at schools across the UK through her work with the department for Education, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and computing at school. She is engaged in projects to inspire girls and other minority groups into computing and tackling teaching resources that currently disenfranchise young girls and women. For the second year in a row, Carrie Anne’s initiative Geek Gurl Diaries has been nominated for a digital heroes award. She is also writing a fun tech book for teenagers about Raspberry Pi to engage all regardless of gender.

gekeGeke is co-author of “Ronde vormen in IT” (Shapely Curves in IT), a book about the careers of women in ICT environments and the importance of the feminine touch. She is founder of “Female Ambassadors in ICT,” ForceFive, the first Dutch “Women in ICT” survey, and the CIAO Academy, a new Dutch education program that aims at streaming talented, career-aged women into creative roles aligning ICT and business.

European 2013 Digital Girl of the Year™ Award Finalists:

  • Amy from Manchester

14-year-old Amy has been coding for three years and has inspired people of all ages with her keynote speeches at the Raspberry Jamboree, Campus Party EU and Wired: Next Generation. She teaches older pupils how to code during her school lunch breaks and with the Manchester Girl Geeks.

Lune develops her own games and interactive movies with CoderDojo. She designs robots and dreams of becoming an engineer. At nine years of age, she is already a true digital visionary and has a track-record of getting girls her age excited about digital endeavor.

 

At 13, Olina Helga has taught both children and teachers the basics of programming. She has blogged for Little Miss Geek in the UK, been nominated to speak at TED and showcased as a keynote speaker at Iceland’s largest IT conferences. She especially enjoys seminars for girls that combine the basics in programming and building up self-confidence.

2013 European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™ Finalists:

berlingeekettesThe Berlin Geekettes are a community of women dedicated to helping aspiring and established female tech innovators. They believe that the more women get involved with tech design, development and leadership, the more successful and diverse our companies and products will be in the future.

ciscoAs part of its Inclusion & Diversity commitment, Cisco undertakes a range of activities around the world to support girls in making ICT relevant study choices. This includes the 2013 “Tech Needs Girls” campaign where Cisco sponsored a competition for school-age girls in Belgium to design a mobile application thus creating a great vehicle for introducing girls to ICT careers and ICT studies.

htwThe Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft is Berlin’s largest University of applied sciences. In 2009, HTW inaugurated an innovative women-only bachelor program, “Frauenstudiengang Informatik und Wirtschaft”, aimed at increasing leadership for women in technology. The program accepts forty applicants every year and celebrated its first graduating class in 2012.

Join us at ICT 2013 on 7 November in Vilnius, Lithuania where Ms. Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President responsible for the Digital Agenda, will announce the 2013 Digital Woman of the Year™, Digital Girl of the Year™ and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™!