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Cheryl Miller Elected Chair of Women Entrepreneurship Platform

1 June 2021, Brussels, Belgium –  Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Director of Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute, was recently elected at a General Assembly meeting to the role of Chairwoman and President of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (“WEP”), the pan-European membership organization whose mission is promoting women-led enterprise in Europe with a focus on advocacy, network-building, and knowledge-sharing. Miller Van Dÿck succeeds Grazia Rendo. 

Miller Van Dÿck was a founding WEP member in 2013 and board member of WEP since 2018.  She concurrently holds the position of Head of EU Delegation for the Women20 engagement group to the G20, and is former Chair of the European Centre for Women and Technology in Belgium, and Governing Board Member of the Digital Skill and Jobs Coalition for the European Commission.

As Director of the Digital Leadership Institute, Miller Van Dÿck has long championed women entrepreneurs in Europe particularly in digital fields, and of her new role says, “women-led enterprise is always and everywhere the most dynamic engine for economic growth.” Under her leadership, and with support from a membership representing 10 million women entrepreneurs across Europe, Miller Van Dÿck says “in the coming three years, WEP will prioritize its role as top advocate for a sustainable, green and digital recovery, and transformation in Europe led by women.”

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DLI Update – Spring 2021

The DLI Board are actively involved in outreach activities with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out more below about our outreach activities in Spring 2021, including election of DLI Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck as new WEP Chairwoman and President. For upcoming activities by DLI and its partners please visit here, and have a look at our calendar for events organised by DLI.

*Entrepreneurship and Art powered by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

12 April – WEgate Community Advisory Council (Online): On 12 April, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, was invited to an online meeting of the Community Advisory Council for the WEgate project, in order to matters of advocacy, the campaign for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, and other issues central to promoting women-led entrepreneurship in Europe and beyond.

29 April – WEP General Assembly (Online): DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined the annual General Assembly of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) as member of the WEP Board of Directors. At this meeting, Ms. Miller Van Dÿck was elected new WEP Chairwoman of the board.

7 May – EU Women20 Delegation Meeting (online): On 7 May, the EU Delegation of the Women20, women’s stakeholder engagement group to the G7/G20, gathered online for their monthly meetings in preparation of the 2021 G20 meetings in Italy. As Head of Delegation, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, chaired this gathering of the 2021 EU delegation.

11 May – Italian G20 Women20 Heads of Delegation Meeting (Online): On 11 May, DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined a meeting of the Heads of Delegation for Women20 Italia 2021, the women’s stakeholder engagement group to the 2021 G20 meetings in Italy. Ms. Miller Van Dÿck participated in the meeting as Head of the EU W20 Delegation.

11 May – Delphi Economic Forum VI (Athens & Online): DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined a panel on the topic of “Female Entrepreneurship & the Financing Gap” at the Delphi Economic Forum VI, that took place in Athens and online 10-15 May 2021.

28 May – G20 Women20 Italy Plenary Meeting (Online): On 28 May, DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined a Plenary meeting of Women20 Italia 2021, the women’s stakeholder engagement group to the 2021 G20 meetings in Italy. Ms. Miller Van Dÿck participated in the meeting as Head of the EU W20 Delegation and Co-chair of the W20 Italy Digital Working Group.

Be sure to visit our Calendar and Outreach Activities page to keep up with DLI events and activities! You can also and sign up for the DLI Newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!

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DLI Update – Winter 2021

The DLI Board are actively involved in outreach activities with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out more below about our outreach activities in Winter 2021, including launch of the 2021 EU Delegation to the G20 Women20 which took pace at end-January. For upcoming activities by DLI and its partners please visit here, and have a look at our calendar for events organised by DLI.

*Entrepreneurship and Art powered by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

27 January – EU Women20 Delegation Kickoff Meeting (Online): On 27 January, the EU Delegation of the Women20, women’s stakeholder engagement group to the G7/G20, kicked off online ahead of the 2021 G20 meetings in Italy. As new Head of Delegation, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, chaired the inaugural gathering of the 2021 EU Women20 Delegation.

10 February – Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Governing Board Meeting (Online): On 10 February, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined the final meeting of the inaugural European Commission Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition governing board ahead of a call for new board members commencing in March. Ms. Miller Van Dÿck has served on the DSJC governing board through a critical stage in its development and growth, beginning with its inception in 2017.

22-23 February – Italy Women20 Kickoff (Rome & Online): On 22-23 February, DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined the kickoff meeting of W20 Italia 2021, the women’s stakeholder engagement group to the 2021 G20 meetings in Italy. Ms. Miller Van Dÿck participated in the meeting as Head of the EU W20 Delegation and as Co-Chair of the W20 Italia 2021 Digital Working Group.

4 March – WEP Board of Directors Meeting (Online): DLI Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, joined the quarterly Board of Directors meeting of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform, which took place on 4 March online.

8 March – UN Observance of International Women’s Day (Online): On 8 March, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined UN Women’s Observance of International Women’s Day 2021, aligned with the priority theme of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on “Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, on the way to the Generation Equality Forum,” which took place online.

9 March – WEgate Peer-Learning Workshop on Women’s Entrepreneurship (Online): On 9 March, the WEgate project organised its third online peer-learning workshop on the topic of “Women’s Entrepreneurship” with participation from DLI executive members Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Katja Legisa and Loredana Bucseneanu.

11 March – AWS Cloud Ambassador Meetup (Online): Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined the 11 March online meetup of AWS Cloud Ambassadors, in which role Ms. Miller Van Dÿck and her peers work to promote uptake of emerging and future technology skills among vulnerable communities, especially girls and women, around the world.

14-26 March – 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (Online): From 14 to 26 March, UN Women organized the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Global civil society organizations also supported the session with a series of virtual events organized via NGO CSW and its partners.

15 March – Council of Europe “Digital Gender Gaps & Opportunities” Event (Online): As a side-event of the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the Council of Europe, National Council of German Women’s Oganizations, and their partners organized an online event addressing the subject of “Digital Gender Gaps and Opportunities.”

23 March – European Parliament “Policy Options for the Ethical Governance of Disruptive Technologies” (Online): On 23 March online, the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) organized an online event on the subject of “Policy Options for the Ethical Governance of Disruptive Technologies,” including with major EU-funded projects,SHERPA, SIENNA and PANELFIT, former to which DLI’s Founding Director, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, acts as an adviser.

26 March – Mommypreneurs Closing Gala 2021 (Online): On 26 March, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, provided a keynote address to the graduates of the 2021 cohort of the Mommypreneurs, a project reaching 2300 women with entrepreneurship skills from across seven countries in Europe.

Be sure to visit our Calendar and Outreach Activities page to keep up with DLI events and activities! You can also and sign up for the DLI Newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!

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DLI and Partners Launch WE4Change Project

On 22 March 2021, the Digital Leadership Institute and four partner organizations from across Europe launched the WE4Change initiative supporting “girls and women connecting for environmental change.” WE4Change is an EU-funded project aiming to foster civic engagement of girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds by empowering them to understand their strengths, develop digital, leadership and changemaking skills, and increase their sense of initiative in the social and environmental sector.

For the next two years, Digital Leadership Institute (BE), Stimmuli for Social Change (GR), Empow’Her (FR), Tekedu (MD) and ZERO Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável (PT) will work together to offer an innovative combination of hands-on activities, training on digital, innovation and environmental awareness skills, problem-solving and co-creation of prototypes to address climate change, responding directly to the needs of young women to break down stereotypes, develop their creativity and confidence, and contribute to society.

The first project meeting took place on the 23rd of March 2021, with project partners discussing the first project phase aiming at setting a solid and appropriate foundation for the development of the We4Change project. The first steps include a context specific gender analysis that will be conducted in each participating country looking at i) youth policy & youth participation programmes, ii) environment & climate, iii) digitalization and innovation related to the issues tackled by the project to ensure the appropriate development of the trainings and materials to be developed throughout the project.

To stay updated on the WE4Change initiative, follow the project Facebook page!

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DLI Announces New EU Projects

DLI and partners of the ATHENA consortium have been awarded program funding from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in order to support women of migrant backgrounds across Europe to take up entrepreneurship. Partners to the ATHENA (“Approaches To valorise the High ENtrepreneuriAl potential of migrant women”) project, which will launch in January 2021, include the following:

DLI has also been awarded Erasmus+ funding to lead the WE4Change (“Girls and Women connecting for environmental change”) project, with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship in STEM fields by girls and women through climate change activism. Members of the WE4Change project include the following organisations:

The DLI team is excited to take up these new projects that support our mission to increase entrepreneurship by girls and women, especially in science and technology fields, in 2021!