Nominations Open for European Ada Awards

On 25 April, in celebration of the 2016 International Girls in ICT Day, the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners opened nominations for 2016-2017 European Ada Awards for Digital Woman of the Year, Digital Girl of the Year and Digital Impact Organisation of the Year!

Please follow the links below to submit nominations by 21 October 2016: 28 October (deadline extended)!

Finalists in each category will be announced on 14 November, and winners will be awarded at the fourth annual Ada Awards Ceremony taking place in celebration of the birth of Ada Lovelace on 8 December 2016 at The Square Brussels, as part of GE Garages 2016 and the European Commission’s Vocational Skills Week 2016.

For more details please consult the 2016 Ada Awards calendar and feel free to contact us with any inquiries!

 

Move It Forward for Women Refugees

On 15-16 October, in celebration of Code Week Europe 2016, the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners will organise the second FREE Move It Forward – female digital starters weekend bringing 100 teen and adult women* together from greater Brussels to develop digital projects that support women refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe. This initiative, part of the DLI inQube female digital accelerator, is supported by top technology companies, and youth and women’s networks and communities. Its objective is to give beginner girls and women the skills to drive positive change and enable them to become digital entrepreneurs and leaders.
Participants: If you are a teen or adult woman* interested in building your tech and startup skills for the benefit of women asylum-seekers and refugees in Europe, please apply to attend this FREE event at the following link: http://bit.ly/mifbru16oct
Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis and effort will be made to accommodate everyone who applies.
Supporters: Please see a list of our Move It Forward partners and sponsors below, and kindly contact us if you would like more information on how to support this event. Opportunities exist for Move It Forward volunteers, interpreters, coaches, jury members, content and media partners, prize contributors and sponsors.
*anyone who identifies as a woman

Draft Programme:

Day One – 15 October (Saturday):

  • 8:00-8:30 – Registration & Coffee
  • 8:30-9:30 – Opening Plenary: Inspiring talks by Move It Forward Partners
    • Welcome & Keynote Presentations:
    • Keynote: Ms. Yara Al-Adib – Service & UX Consultant/Deloitte Digital
  • 9:30-11:30 – Workshop 1: Web Development with WordPress (TBC)
  • 12:30 – 13:30 – Lunch Break
  • 13:30-15:30 – Workshop 2: Grow Your Business with Salesforce.org (TBC)
  • 15:30-18:00 – Brainstorming, Proposals, Idea Selection, Team Grouping & Project Work
  • 18:00-19:00 – Dinner
  • 19:00-22:00 – Project Work with Coaches

Day Two – 16 October (Sunday):

  • 8:00-8:30 – Coffee & Danishes
  • 8:30-10:30 – Workshop 3: Smartphone App Development with MIT App Inventor for Android (TBC)
  • 10:30-12:30 – Workshop 4: Launching Your Project in the Cloud with Amazon Web Services (TBC)
  • 12:30-13:30 – Lunch Break
  • 13:30-16:00 – Project Work with Coaches
  • 16:00-17:00 – Presentation Preparation
  • 17:00-19:00 – Closing Plenary: Project Presentations & Judging
  • 18:30 – Keynote Presentation: TBA
  • 19:00-21:00 – Awards Dinner & Networking
Awards:
Prizes will be awarded for top three projects presented on Sunday afternoon:
  • Overall Best: 6-month inQubation at DLI; 10 Hours one-to-one inQube Startup Coaching; Other TBC
  • Biggest Challenge: 4-month inQubation at DLI; 8 Hours one-to-one inQube Startup Coaching; Other TBC
  • Best Technical Solution: 4-month inQubation at DLI; 8 Hours one-to-one inQube Startup Coaching; Other TBC

Sponsors & Partners:
Thank you to the individuals and organisations who are making this event possib

DLI Update – May-June 2016

Spring has sprung right into summer, and although the weather may not reflect it, the crush of activities in Brussels has made it clear that the yearly exodus to warmer climes is imminent. Besides carrying out several awesome hands-on events around digital skills for girls and women, in this timeframe, DLI also launched the Digital Leadership Academy on 21 June with a seminar on “the Cloud” with Amazon Web Services, organised in the context of the first-ever Digital Festival in Brussels.

At GE‘s 14 June Minds+Machines event in Paris, DLI Cofounder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, also had the unique opportunity to interview Miss Niamh Scanlon (13 years old from Ireland), who is our Ada Awards 2016 European Digital Girl of the Year.  Check out the conversation they enjoyed here — and be sure to watch till the end to hear Niamh’s insightful advice for digital industry leaders!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Lfud7LKM4&feature=youtu.be

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in May and June 2016, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising.

*entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics


womenandtechgoogle3 May – Google “Women and Technology” Event (Brussels): On 3 May, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI Cofounder,  organised a hands-on workshop on “Android Coding with MIT App Inventor” for girls, and Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Coounder,  contributed to a high-level panel discussion at an event on “Women and Tech” organised by Google and Politico in Brussels.


bxlsmartcity3 May – Brussels Smart City (Brussels): On 3 May, DLI Cofounder, Ms. Cheryl Miller gave a keynote intervention on the subject of “Smart Citizens Make Smart Cities” as part of the Brussels Region “Brussels Smart City” event, organised under the auspices of Ms. Bianca Debaets, State Secretary of the Brussels Capital Region responsible for Digital Transition.


makerstown24 May – Makerstown (Brussels): On 24 May, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, spoke on the topic of “We Can Make It: Women Entrepreneurship,” as part of the first-ever Makerstown event in Brussels.


inspiringfifty25 May – Inspiring Perspectives (The Hague & Amsterdam): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, joined Inspiring Perspectives, a high-level event attended by her Majesty Queen Maxima of Holland and Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, recognising top women in technology from around the world. The event was organised by InspiringFifty and StartupDelta special envoy Ms. Neelie Kroes, former Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda.


smeepp2 June – Female Entrepreneurs and Digital Business (Brussels): On 2 June, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, contributed to an expert panel on “Female Entrepreneurs and Digital Business,” for SME Europe of the EPP in Brussels.


ge14 June – GE Minds and Machines (Paris): On 13 and 14 June,   Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, joined the inauguration of the GE Digital Foundry and contributed to “Minds + Machines Europe 2016” with an interview of Miss Niamh Scanlon (13 years old from Ireland), the DLI Ada Awards 2016 European Digital Girl of the Year!


ey15 June – EY: Women. Fast forward Global Planning Session (Paris): On 15 June, DLI Cofounder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, contributed to a global planning session on harnessing digital disruption to promote leadership by women, at EY headquarters in Paris.


digitalfestivallogo221 June – Digital Festival 2016 (Brussels): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, joined the opening plenary panel of the first-ever Digital Festival in Brussels on 21 June, at which DLI also organized two official side-events:

  1. Digital Leadership Seminar on “The Cloud” with Amazon Web Services – for women decision-makers by invitation; and
  2. Coding for Young People Expert Roundtable and Android Coding Workshop with Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI Cofounder.

youthspeak27 June – AIESEC Youth Speak Forum (Brussels): On 27 June, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, delivered a keynote presentation on the gender gap in technology sectors, and she and the DLI team facilitate a workshop on building educational programs to address this gap, as part of the AIESEC Youth Speak Forum in Brussels.


28 June – Women and the New Economy: The Future of Work (Brussels): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, contributed to a panel on “Women and the New Economy” as part of a conference organized by the Gender Equality Committee of European Commission trainees, on 28 June in Brussels.


dsi4eu29 June – CAPS Policy Workshop on Digital Social Innovation (Brussels): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder,  joined a panel on “digital social innovation” as part of a Collective Awareness Platform Workshop at the European Commission on 29 June in Brussels.


Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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Coding for Young People at Digital Festival 2016

On 21 June 2016, as an official side-event of the first Digital Festival in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute will carry out a best practices roundtable on Coding for Young People in Europe and an Android coding workshop for young people, on behalf of the ERASMUS+ Coding for Young People project.

At this event targeting students, educators, administrators and policy-makers, expert panelists will lead a roundtable discussion on best practices in coding initiatives for youth from across Europe. The roundtable will be followed by an Android smartphone coding workshop for young people which is also open to members of the public (details below).  Participation is free of charge but both a ticket to the Digital Festival as well as a booking for the current event is required.


Draft Agenda:
14:30-14:35:  Welcome by Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute
14:35-14:50:  Coding for Young People Project Overview by Valentina Platzgummer, Consulta Europa


14:50-16:00:  Expert-led Best Practices Roundtable:

Moderator:  Ms. Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute


15:45-17:30: Android Coding Workshop for Young People:
Following the best practices roundtable, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, Digital Leadership Institute Cofounder, and Friedger Müffke of OpenIntents.org, will lead a hands-on Android Coding workshop with MIT App Inventor, targeting young people ages 11 and up.  Participation in the workshop is free but places are limited so reservation is required.  In addition, attendees should bring their own laptop or contact the organizers if they need to reserve one (limited supply).


Coding for Young People Project Partners

    

 

Girl Tech Fest Brussels

On 30 April at European School IV in Brussels, 250 girls from thirty-three schools across Belgium celebrated International Girls in ICT Day 2016 by participating in Belgium’s first-ever Digital MuseGirl Tech Fest,” an all-day event promoting digital and creative skills to girls aged 11 to 15. The first Girl Tech Fest was carried out in Dutch, French and English and organized by the Digital Leadership Institute with support from Google, IBM, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell and the ULB. The event involved over 100 volunteers who organised more than forty workshops and twenty Digital Muse Lab activities that showcased high-tech gadgets and activities like Cooking with Watson, Google Cardboard, and Smartgurlz Drones designed, powered and modeled after girls.

DigitalMuseOrg

Participants also took advantage of hands-on workshops teaching such skills as how to “Lead Like a Girl” and “Write in Wikipedia,” and they got to design and build their own gadgets like computer-powered legos and 3D holograms. The first-ever Girl Tech Fest also featured inspiring talks by role models from GTF partners, as well as former European Digital Girls of the Year, Miss Lune Van Ewijk and Miss Manon Van Hoorebeke. Ms. Lorena Boix Alonso of the European Commission and Ms. Saskia Van Uffelen, Digital Champion for Belgium were also guests of honour.

DM1 ArtOn the occasion of the first Girl Tech Fest, the Digital Leadership Institute also released its first music compilation, Digital Muse One – DM1, featuring top women electronic musicians from the past and present. Ms. Maya Postepski, aka Princess Century, who composed a DM1 track called “California,” also delivered an inspiring talk at the Girl Tech Fest, organized several workshops on “digital music composition” and had several girls to join her in DJ-ing at a GTF disco during the lunch break.

gtfbru16team

The closing GTF plenary showcased amazing digital creations of the day for which the girls themselves were responsible, including an original Digital Muse letter font, digital music compositions, and high-tech fashion designs. Prizes were given to outstanding digital muses who inspired their fellow participants during the day with insight, helpfulness, and general enthusiasm about the event and their fellow digital muses.

By all measures, the inaugural Girl Tech Fest Brussels was an unqualified success, and DLI is grateful to all its partners, volunteers and sponsors for the hard work, commitment and love with which this amazing event was delivered. In the meantime, the feedback from the school was so great that we have already been invited back next year– but this time with twice as many participants! 😮

Better start getting ready for 29 April 2017 when we will kick off Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2017!!! 🙂

If you or or your organisation would like to support future editions of the Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest in Brussels or elsewhere — with expert-led workshops, sponsorship, promotional consideration, media coverage, technical infrastructure or onsite volunteers — please contact us.

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