Category: Europe

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2015 European Ada Award Finalists

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2015 European Ada Awards!  Herewith the very deserving finalists in all categories!

2015 European Digital Girl of the Year™ Award Finalists:

Niamh, 13, learned to code at CoderDojo when she was nine and she loves to build websites and apps that help people. When she was 11 she developed an award-winning app to help the drivers of electric cars. For three years Niamh has mentored at CoderDojo in Dublin City University, where she helps other young people – and particularly girls – to learn how to create with technology. She is a member of the Digital Youth Council in Ireland and she would like to see more coding and technology taught in schools.

Yasmin is a fourteen year old who has been programming for six years. She regularly builds projects with the Raspberry Pi computer, and volunteers to run workshops for young people to learn how to code using the Pi. As well as this, she runs a programming club during her school lunch breaks for younger pupils, to hopefully increase the uptake of Computer Science at her school.

 

2015 European Digital Woman of the Year™ Award Finalists:

Monique is the Chief Technology Officer for New Frontiers at Cisco that uniquely focuses on empowering women through the intersection of research, economics and technology execution.  Her current focus is spearheading an Internet of Women movement as an opportunity for women worldwide to collectively shape the future of the Internet powered by a SHE (Supercritical Human Elevated) technology platform.

Janneke is a female serial technology entrepreneur who, next to her role of Chief Innovation Officer at Improve Digital, also makes big efforts to help other entrepreneurs and is a strong advocate for women in tech. She is mentor for startups, angel investor and regularly speaks at events to share her experience in building a high-growth international technology company. She is co-initiator of Inspiring Fifty, that makes female role models in technology more visible. She recently published a novel for young girls (10-14) to create a role model for them and show them how great and fun technology is and how many possibilities it offers.

In her work, Nicole supports account teams and partners that need her technical expertise.  She is passionate about the Internet of Things (IoT), IPv6 and Security, and is currently playing with new technology e.g Sensors in her own home.  Nicole is a Champion of Change for her passionate work in the Industrial Automation space, and is a frequent blogger and attendee at the four annual Dutch Hacker Conferences.

 

2015 European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™ Award Finalists:

Travis Foundation runs Rails Girls Summer of Code for the third year in a row now – providing stipends for women all over the world to work on Open Source projects. The grassroots initiative is a hands-on solution for the problem of women being underrepresented in Open Source and Tech in general. With Rails Girls Summer of Code we are not only changing women’s careers, diversifying Tech Communities and building safer environments for women in Tech – we are also creating the much-needed role models in IT, so that future generations can follow suit.

VHTO, the Dutch national expert organisation on girls/women and science/technology, makes an effort in many different ways to increase the involvement of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Every year VHTO organises the Dutch Girlsday together with 300 IT and technical companies. In 2015, 9,525 girls participated! To increase the participation of girls in Computer Science specifically, VHTO created the Digivita program for girls (age 8-18) which took place in in six cities in 2014, and carried out the Digivita Summer Camp in 2015. In 2014 VHTO reached 55,210 Dutch children through projects in primary and secondary education.

Join us on 14 December at the 2015 European Ada Awards Dinner — taking place as part of the 15 December “Transforming Europe toward the Digital Age” event in Luxembourg — where we will announce the 2015 European Ada Award-winners in all categories!

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Amazon Web Services Sponsors Adas

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Lady Ada Lovelace – namesake of the Ada Awards and credited with being the world’s first computer-programmer – on 1 July in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute carried out its third best practices roundtable of 2015 on getting more girls and women into digital studies and careers.  At this first-ever transatlantic “Ada 200” meeting, attended by Brussels decision-makers in technology and policy fields, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI founder, and Ms. Teresa Carlson, Vice President Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services, facilitated a discussion that emphasised a need for the following:

  • sharing of best-practices between U.S. and European ICT organizations to increase global tech leadership by women;
  • driving girl- and women-focused digital skills and entrepreneurship initiatives; and
  • promoting “disruptive recruitment practices” that break industry stereotypes and “business-as-usual” hiring practices by ICT organizations.

AWS

Following the roundtable, Ms. Carlson spoke of her experience as a woman leader in technology in an inspiring talk to young participants of a g-Hive “3D Jewelry Design & Printing” workshop sponsored by AWS.  “You are leaders,” Ms. Carlson told the teenage girls assembled.  “The skills you’re learning will help you get into good schools, and if you keep at it,” she promised, “I will come back here to recruit you.”

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Ms. Carlson underscored the commitment of Amazon Web Services to getting more women into digital studies and careers worldwide, and engaged her organization to support the work of the Digital Leadership Institute.  As a start, AWS pledged sponsorship to the 2015 Ada Awards, a DLI initiative that recognizes outstanding girls and women in technology and the organizations that support them around the world.

Photos from the event may be found on the DLI Facebook page here (Album: Atlantic Ada 2015).

Ms. Teresa Carlson is vice president of worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services where she is responsible for operations, strategy, sales and business development. She was previously vice president of federal government business at Microsoft, among several other positions, and worldwide vice president of marketing and business development for Lexign Incorporated. Before moving into IT, Carlson spent nearly 15 years in healthcare. Among her many honors is the March of Dimes Heroines in Technology Lifetime Achievement Award.  She is also one of the Washingtonian’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

 

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Call for Local Partners

The Ada Awards are a global initiative recognising outstanding girls and women in digital studies and careers, and the organisations who support them, active in Europe and Africa since 2013.  With support from the United Nations, European institutions and private sector partners, the Awards have continually grown in impact since their inception — today reaching hundreds of female role models in digital studies and careers around the world.

Would your organisation like to become part of this global network recognising female digital leaders of today and tomorrow?  Are you well-placed to identify and showcase top girls and women in tech, and the organisations who support them, in your country or region?

Please contact us to receive information on becoming an official Ada Awards Local Partner, and get involved in a global movement promoting community, diversity and digital leadership by girls and women around the world!

Local Partner Privileges include (TBC):

  • Exclusive partnership for specific geographic area (national, regional or local)
  • Branded local Ada Awards, e.g. “Italian Digital Girl of the Year Award”, etc.
  • Local Ada Award Event
  • Link with globally-recognised female digital leadership Awards

 Local Partner Responsibilities include adherence to:

  • Ada Award branding and communication standards
  • Award Terms & Conditions
  • Jury selection criteria
  • Regional and global award calendars
  • Partner and sponsorship requirements

For more information about the Ada Awards, please subscribe to our newsletter or visit the below websites:

Please visit the Digital Leadership Institute to learn more about the organisation behind the Ada Awards!

 

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2015 European Ada Awards Launch

On 23 April 2015, at our fourth annual celebration of International Girls in ICT Day, the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners – the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies, DIGITALEUROPE, European Centre for Women and Technology, and European Schoolnet – launched the third edition of the European Ada Awards recognising outstanding girls and women in digital studies and careers in Europe, and the organisations who support them.

The opening ceremony for the 2015 European Ada Awards featured lightening talks by inspiring Digital Leaders including girls and women in tech from across Europe, past & current Ada Award-winners, and supporters of the Awards, including:

 

The launch of the new DLI digital innovation centre for girls and women included opening online nominations for the 2015 European Ada Awards in the following categories:

 

International Girls in ICT Day 2015:

The 2015 European Ada Awards Launch was part of an all-day Digital Leadership Institute celebration of International Girls in ICT Day 2015 that includes the following activities:

17:00-19:00 – g-Hive workshop on “Girls & The Future Internet”: A hands-on workshop for girls*, ages 13-17, to promote active participation and leadership by girls in designing and building the Internet of tomorrow, for fun, safety and wellbeing. 

19:00-20:00 – 2015 European Ada Awards Launch & “Inspiring Digital Leaders” Talks, hosted by Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder & Executive Director.

20:00-22:00 – inQube workshop “Quantify Everything”: Third workshop in the Spring 2015 “Build A Kick&ss Online Presence” series for women* by Ms. Selma Franssen, DLI Communications Director & inQube Community Manager. 

*Anyone who identifies as a girl or woman.

All DLI “Girls in ICT Day” and European Ada Awards events were an official part of the 2015 e-Skills for Jobs Campaign.

Volunteering, Donations & Sponsorship:

If you or your organisation is interested in partnering, volunteering, sponsoring girls & women to participate in DLI activities, or would like to support DLI and its mission in other ways, please contact us.  Donations to DLI are gratefully accepted and go toward furthering its mission of bridging the gender gap and the digital divide worldwide. 

Thank you to our 2014-2015 Ada Award Partners & Sponsors!

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Congratulations 2014 European Ada Award-winners!

Yesterday in Rome,  DLI announced winners of the 2014 European Ada Awards!  Join us here in congratulating the winners, and read here the  Press Release  from our partners and sponsors about this great event!

***Congratulations to the 2014 European Digital Girls of the Year™!***

Ten and Under:

  laurenLauren Boyle (9) from Ireland:

9-year-old Lauren developed a site that was coded by a kid for kids.  She mentors at Coderdojo in Ireland teaching kids Scratch, HTML, CSS, etc., and is also part of a group called Code for Ireland who meet and develop apps for community challenges and problems to assist government.

Eleven and Over:

  Manon Van Hoorebeke (11) from Belgium:

Manon is eleven years old and started coding with Scratch at a young age.  She now actively coaches kids and especially girls to learn to code and be interested in technology by using Arduino. For two years, she has been promoting Coderdojo Belgium to reach more kids (and girls) to become interested in technology and STEM education. Her dream is to get more girls interested in technology and that more technology be taught at primary and secondary school.

***Congratulations to the 2014 European Digital Woman of the Year™!***

  Esther Roure Vila, Cisco, from Spain

A lack of female role models is what drives Esther today to be a role model herself. It also drove her to petition the entertainment industry for better female role models in STEM.  Among many achievements, Esther has launched “WISE EMEA” – ‘Women in Science and Engineering’ 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 more than 100 female engineers.

***Congratulations to the 2014 European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™!***

  Stemettes, United Kingdom:

The Stemettes aim to inspire the next generation of females into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) fields by showing them the amazing women already in STEM via a series of panel events, hackathons, exhibitions, and mentoring schemes.

Congratulations again to these very deserving winners and thank you to  our amazing partners and sponsors for making the 2014 European Ada Awards possible!

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2014 EU Ada Award Finalists

Finalists for the 2014 European Ada Awards are here!  Join us for the Ada Award Ceremony on 30 October in Rome to find out who the winners are in each category — and good luck to all the very deserving finalists!

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

Ten and Under:

  •   Anne (9) from England

Eleven and Over:

  •   Noa (11) from Belgium

Find out more about the Finalists for the 2014 European Digital Girl of the Year™ Award here!

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

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

Find out more about the finalists for 2014 European Digital Woman of the Year™ Award here!

***Congratulations to the finalists for the 2014 European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™ Award!***

Find out more about the finalists for the 2014 European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™ Award here!

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™, Digital Woman of the Year™, and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year™!

 

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Nominations are now closed!

Thank you for a record-number of nominations from all over Europe for this year’s Ada Awards!

Nominations are now closed for the 2014 European Ada Awards for Digital Woman of the Year Award, Digital Girl of the Year Award and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year Award!

Picture9Please stay tuned here on 6 October 2014 for news about this year’s European Ada Award finalists, and we look forward to joining you at the e-Skills for Jobs High-level Conference, in Rome on 30 October, where we will announce the winners of the 2014 European Ada Awards!

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Nominate Yourself!

Nomination forms for the 2015 European Ada Awards may be accessed by clicking on the below icons.

Digital Girl Award Digital Impact Award - Green Digital Woman Award

If you have any questions about your nomination or about the Ada Award nomination process, please contact us.  We are looking forward to receiving your nominations!

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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.

 

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2014 Nominations Open on 4 April!

On 4 April 2014, in honour of the Hellenic Presidency of the European Council,  nominations for the 2014 European Ada Awards will officially open in the context of the “Women & Girls Go Digital” event, co-organised by ECWT, in Athens.  We look forward to a great turnout for the event and a record number of 2014 nominations for Digital Girl, Digital Woman, and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year in Europe.

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The European Ada Awards are an initiative of the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners – CEPIS, DIGITALEUROPE, ECWT, and the European SchoolNet – that aims to recognise outstanding girls and women in digital sectors in Europe and organisations supporting them.

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The European Ada Awards were launched as a five-year pledge to the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs and are part of the 2014 Eskills for Jobs campaign.  In 2013, Ms. Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, was personal patron of the Awards and presented prizes in the following categories to deserving girls, women and organisations in Europe:

An award for African Digital Woman of the Year was also presented in 2013.

Thank you to partners and sponsors of the 2013 and 2014 European Ada Awards!