Winners of the European Tech Women Awards announced at London Tech Week

24 women awarded at the Department for International Trade’s European Tech Women Awards  

DIT launched the Europe Technology Campaign that will showcase the UK expertise across many sub-sectors over the next 3 years.

London, 3^rd September 2020 — Yesterday the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) announced the winners of the first edition of the European Tech Women Awards that took place virtually during London Tech Week. The event recognized the accomplishments of 24 women from 12 countries who delivered revolutionary projects in the UK and Europe and celebrated UK’s diversity, openness and willingness to champion female leaders. 

The winners in running order are:

Fields of expertise range from Mathematics and Computer Science, IT, Artificial Intelligence, tech apps, Internet of Things, Engineering, Sustainability, through to Energy, Telecommunications, Legal Tech, Science and Research, Mobility, 3D technologies and specialized talent placement. 

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The event also featured two inspirational keynote speakers: 

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, Co-Founder of STEMettes, launched a strong message about the importance of diversity in tech: “It is really important for all of us to realize that the change starts with us and it’s us changing our attitude towards digital things and technology that helps influence those around us… All of these technologies are exciting and they are trends but ultimately they need the creative minds of many, they need the many perspectives of many to ensure that we are building technology that actually solves problems and helps people… That is why it’s important to have women in technology, to have great people in technology, to have disabilities in technology and to have all kinds of people working and taking their rightful place as innovators”. 

Sheila Flavell CBE, Chief Operating Officer of FDM Group, highlighted that “Now is the time for us current and future women leaders to show up as the very best version of ourselves. As we have moved forward out of this crisis, there has never been a more urgent need for women to step forward and lead our great STEM industries into the future… It’s not about women being better than men, it’s about being different to men, bringing different values and ways of working to the table… If decisions are increasingly executed by algorithms, we better make sure that the teams that design, build and test them are diverse, otherwise we will create a digital world that doesn’t work for everyone…If we want more women into technology, then we have to empower and enable more role models to inspire them. If you can see it, you can be it”. 

In her opening speech, Oriel Petry, Director for Technology and Advanced Manufacturing at DIT London stressed “some of the most influential people in the British government responsible for technology are women, but we know that is not the case across the economy as a whole. Too few women are shaping our future, too few women are writing the algorithms that are going to determine everything about our life in the years to come, too few women in fact are successful in raising capital. This to me in inexplicable. So, these are important issues that the British government cares about. These awards celebrate the wonderful diversity, creativity, and innovation that women bring to tech”. 

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In his closing speech, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe Richard Burn underlined the importance of women in tech and officially launched the DIT Tech Campaign: “Whether building businesses in a range of sectors including healthcare, mobility and renewable energy, creating social enterprises or putting together programs designed to support and empower women and girls. We have seen some truly inspiring stories of how women across Europe are powering the tech revolution. These awards are hugely important to DIT and to DIT Europe as they highlight the role of women in Tech and the important contribution of tech to the British economy. I hope that the amazing stories we have heard from our winners will encourage more women to join tech businesses and that tech leaders will work harder to ensure that women play a bigger part in their companies, which will of course drive their success. London Tech Week provides DIT Europe with a launchpad for our own pan-European Technology campaign designed to showcase the UK’s expertise across many different sub-sectors”.  

Over the next 3 years, the DIT Europe Technology Campaign will deliver an innovative program of landmark Ministerial led events, expanding the impact of the UK presence at major exhibitions and focusing on core UK strengths such as big data and Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Smart Cities and the Internet of Things. 

It will represent an innovative and exciting platform for the UK to deliver confident, consistent messaging on technologies where the UK is a global leader and supporting UK priorities in exports, investment, and trade policy.

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