Women leaders in technology emerge as new role models for future talent

From aerospace engineering to health, quantum computing and molecular simulations, all crossed by artificial intelligence. Scientists and executives from multiple branches and sectors with a strong technological component have filled Pier07 of Tech Barcelona with innovative projects, disruptive startups and high-level professional careers, which have turned the central hub into a showcase of female technological talent.

"It is important that women make noise and have visibility," highlighted researcher and project manager in the space sector Mireia Colina, now senior business development manager at Indra. Promoter of the Barcelona chapter of Women in Aerospace Europe, Colina insisted on the need for young women to have female technology role models to look up to: "It is necessary for there to be women in the highest positions, both technical and leadership."

This call for more female role models was a constant throughout the day: "What we need are role models, especially during school, so that any girl can naturally see that she can study engineering in the same way that she can study anything else," highlighted Eva Martín, head of innovation at the startup Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, which has been working since 2019 to make practical applications of quantum computing available to the market.

Women represent only 30% of professionals in the technological field

While Qilimajaro was born in 2019 asspin-offfrom the University of Barcelona, Nextmol was doing it at the same time from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), as explained by its promoter and CEO, Mónica de Mier.She was one of the pioneers to start building the bridge between science and the market from the BSC, promoting variousspin-off, as explained by the center's head of technology transfer, Anna Escoda. From Nextmol, De Mier works to develop "sustainable chemistry" so that products like detergents and cosmetics stop polluting and become biodegradable.

Nextmol is one of the 14 spin-offs that have emerged from the BSC —of these, only three are led by women, as Escoda detailed—. Now, the BSC is preparing to take a leap, as one of the seven AI Factories that are being created in Europe and will be open to any researcher or project that requires a large volume of computation to start entering their AI proposals.

And it is that AI is called to unleash a transversal transformation in every sector, including health, as highlighted by Marta Tolós, the Executive Director, Enterprise AI Platforms & Services at AstraZeneca. Tolós leads this area from the global hub that the pharmaceutical company has opened in the Catalan capital, attracted by a city with "a brutal healthcare ecosystem," which makes it one of the European cities with the most clinical trials.

This ecosystem and the talent available in the city have been key in attracting professionals like Susana Kamph who, arriving from Sweden, has been head of Sustainability at Ikea in Catalonia for the last few years, and now has launched Xplore Studios, with which she aspires to accompany retail into the future. "We want to design a customer journey with experiences and technologies like augmented reality," Kamph detailed. The pilot will be tested in Barcelona, but the ambition is global. "We will see what works best, and then we will scale to other cities," Kamph explained alongside Gabriela Davila, head of Human Resources at the Nestlé IT Hub, located in Esplugues and employing 850 people. "Of these, 36% are women," Davila explained, asserting that, for the center, innovation is a common thread: "Technology is our mindset."

As the Director of Transformation at Tous, Berta Sanmartí, highlighted in the same round table, innovation is also essential in the jewelry firm from Manresa. "At Tous, transformation is in our DNA, it's part of our culture," and Sanmartí helps to channel it: "We help teams navigate towards this common goal, supporting and accelerating innovative projects within the company."

Role models, programs and visibility

Innovation and technology acquire a leading role in a society in which the sector is far from being egalitarian, and that is becausewomen represent only 30% of the technology sector. To delve into the reasons why this figure resists significant growth, the Catalan Association of Telecommunications Engineering and Digital Technologies (Telecos.cat) and the i2cat research center have interviewed 20 professionals in the sector and conducted 100 surveys in their reportIt's not women's work. The first data from the study, which will be presented comprehensively in the coming months, conclude that "there is a lot of potential, and female diversity is an underutilized resource."

All with the aim of transforming the Catalan ICT ecosystem towards "a more inclusive, fairer, more competitive environment with more role models," according to researcher Iolanda Domingo. The study confirms the persistence of the wage gap, unequal access to promotion, and "micromachismos that often go unnoticed," in addition to difficulties in reconciling work and family life. But the report does not stop at diagnosis: it goes on to propose solutions, such as implementing gender-focused mentors, promoting new programs, and fostering forums to give visibility to women in ICT.

Maite Malet, from the venture capital firm Asabys Partners, has also launched proposals in this regard. "More funding programs and initiatives specifically aimed at women must be created," she defended alongside Elena Rico (Impact Partners) and Peña Solano (WA4Steam), who agreed on the need to reach the youngest. "We must avoid biases when girls and boys consider what to study, and that they know role models with whom they see that it is possible to work in an investment fund or on a board of directors," Rico remarked.

From WA4Steam, Peña went further: "We must give visibility to role models, so that investors and decision-makers are seen, and that this visibility then leads to networking." And it is that "there is much to do," given the figure that only 2% of private capital reaches female-led startups, and that only 20% of founders are women. The work of many is already combating these figures, from startups like Motional Hub, Holomit, and Reveal Genomics. Carla Zaldua, Beth Batlló, and Adriana Herrero presented them in a pitch format during the event, where many agreed on one goal: to reach the day when it is not necessary to hold an event like this because equality in the sector has been achieved.