Connecting Women in Tech

ongoing

WIDCON will drive forward the impact of the investments made throughout the DIGITAL Programme, leveraging data, knowledge and networks to deliver on the ambitions of the Digital Decade. It acts at the core of the Women in Digital Declaration to leverage contributions for tackling the shortage of ICT specialists and building an inclusive digital Europe. WIDCON will (i) measure the progress of Women in Digital (WiD) across EU-27 and reference countries, facilitating the identification of best practices and the development of benchmarks accepted by all stakeholders, (ii) activate a community of experts to identify key challenges and best practices in supporting WiD, and further validate core data, (iii) provide targeted analyses and recommendations to support the delivery of strategic policy objectives and widespread recognition of stand-out Working Groups and networks successes. To achieve these objectives, WIDCON will produce (i) a replicable index for WiD, including an overview of key national actions across Member States, (ii) a Forum of experts based on a sustainable operation and financial model for its continued growth beyond the project end, (iii) a systematic library of best practices (repository) (iv) an annual summit to facilitate direct engagement, knowledge sharing among stakeholder and expert validation of project results, (v) an annual report on the state of WiD across Europe and beyond. The WIDCON consortium partners can guarantee quality delivery, as they are already developing a gender-based Index (GENDEX) for measuring women’s participation and impact within the startup environment and bring together existing networks of actors across Industry, Education and Training through the membership of EVTA, EITD, BDVA and AIOTI[BR1] totalling more than 1700 organisations. Finally, the partners have already developed models and best practices under existing and previous projects like LEADS, EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative and Girls Go Circular.