Mobile World Capital Barcelona and Barcelona City Hall hunt for the best international projects to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry

• 4d-LAB, the MWCapital digital transformation programme, will roll out the two best projects in the city of Barcelona
• The initiative’s ambassadors are GSMA and the European Center For Women and Technology

April 4, 2018

The Barcelona Mobile World Capital Foundation (MWCapital) and Barcelona City Hall, through the Commission on Technology and Innovation, have launched an international call for the best projects to help bridge the gender gap in the tech industry. The initiative, for which GSMA and the European Center For Women and Technology are acting as ambassadors, forms part of the fourth challenge organised by d-LAB, the MWCapital programme that promotes the digital transformation of society to improve people’s lives.

The Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation (MWCapital) and the Barcelona City Council, through the Commission on Technology and Innovation, have launched an international call to find the best solutions and projects to reduce the gender gap and enhance talent female in the technology sector.

Submissions will be open from today until 30 May at www.d-lab.tech/women-in-tech. The first evaluation rounds will be held in June and July, led by a team of experts at d-LAB and Barcelona City Hall, while the final decision will be made by an external committee in September, which will select the 2 best projects to be rolled out in Barcelona. The winners will be announced at the end of October.d-LAB is launching this initiative to search for solutions for bridging the gender gap in the tech industry and foster female talent in this sector. This fourth challenge aims to promote projects that are both replicable and scalable in order to achieve a systemic impact.

This collaboration strengthens the will of the Barcelona City Hall to foster the economy and digital empowerment of citizens, with a direct impact on the reduction of the digital gender gap, as established on the Barcelona Digital City Plan.

Empowering women in ICT

The current gender gap in the tech industry is seen as an increasingly urgent issue that needs be tackled by the public and private sectors. The low number of women choosing to study STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or undertake university-level ICT courses is an indicator that the matter needs to be treated systemically.

According to data provided by the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia, during the academic year 2015-2016, only 13% of students enrolled in ICT were women. A great number of projects, events and initiatives are currently being carried out in an attempt to close the gender gap in the tech industry. However, only limited results are being achieved due to a lack of continuity and capacity to create a real impact on a significant scale.