The Women TechEU initiative will support women from tech companies

On Tuesday, the European Commission launched the Women TechEU initiative, which supports women-led start-ups in the field of high technology and helps them grow into future champions in this field. The initiative is part of the new Horizon Europe for Innovative Ecosystems program, supported by the European Innovation Council. Available data suggest that women only found or co-found 15 percent of innovative startups, and in only 6 percent of cases are start-up teams made up of women only. Businesses run by women raise less venture capital than their male counterparts, even with important initial investments, and the amounts they raise are usually lower. According to the EC report, the Women TechEU initiative addresses this innovative gender gap by supporting high-tech startups run by women at an early, most risky stage. Thanks to the initiative, women-led startups will receive € 75,000 in grants, first-class coaching and mentoring through the European Innovation Council's program for women in leadership positions. The goal is to increase the number of women who start their own startups. The first pilot call of the Women TechEU initiative, which will end on 10 November 2021, will fund up to 50 promising high-tech startups from EU Member States and associated countries. "Through Women TechEU, we want to increase the number of women-led startups and create a fairer and more prosperous European ecosystem of innovative technologies," said Marija Gabrielová, EU Commissioner for Innovation and Research. She hoped that EC support for the founders of new technological ecosystems (artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, photonics, biotechnology and quantum computing) would increase their chances of success and support the overall European innovation ecosystem by involving more female talent.