• The launch of the Catalan chapter of ‘Women in Tech’ is the result of the alliance between Polítiques Digitals and Tech Barcelona
• The aim is to maximise the impact and internationalisation of the actions of the DonaTIC Plan and to give global visibility to Catalan female digital talent
• The general director of Societat Digital, Joana Barbany, will act as host of the global initiative in Catalonia

• Under the ‘Women in Tech Barcelona’ trademark, events, entrepreneurial activities and training programmes will be promoted

Barcelona, 20 June 2022.– Catalonia is now part of the global network of ‘Women in Tech’, an international non-profit organisation with a worldwide presence whose mission is to eliminate the gender gap and promote the access, presence and visibility of women in the technology sector.

As a result of the alliance between the Department of the Vice-Presidency and Digital Policies and Territory, through the Direcció General de Societat Digital, and Tech Barcelona, the Catalan chapter of the initiative was presented today in Barcelona, with a double objective: to give visibility to Catalan female digital and technological talent around the world and to internationalise the actions carried out in Catalonia to promote the presence, empowerment and leadership of women in the ICT sector, such as those included in the DonaTIC Plan, the strategic plan for the country promoted by Polítiques Digitals.

In this sense, for the general director of Societat Digital, Joana Barbany, who will act as the host of the global initiative in Catalonia, the creation of the Catalan chapter of ‘Women in Tech’ “represents a great opportunity to internationalise the DonaTIC Plan and position Catalonia in this great global network, where we can share and exchange experiences and knowledge in the field of promoting and visualising female talent in the digital and technological sector”. Barbany adds that “to move this initiative forward, we have a strategic partner, Tech Barcelona, which will allow us to join synergies with the Catalan digital and technological ecosystem with the common goal of increasing the presence, visibility and leadership of women in this area”.

The network is open to the participation of people or organisations that would like to join it, both to take part in the activities and to collaborate in the initiative as volunteers or mentors. Registration is open from today at this link.

The commitment of Polítiques Digitals and Tech Barcelona to add Barcelona and Catalonia to the Women in Tech network responds, above all, to the coincidence of global and local objectives. The international organisation promotes the empowerment of girls and women around the world, focusing on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5b: achieve gender equality by harnessing technology. To do this, the organisation acts through four areas of focus: events, education programmes, entrepreneurship and social inclusion. Since 2018, Women in Tech’s actions in these four main areas have had a direct impact on more than 200,000 women worldwide.

These same areas are being addressed by different Catalan institutions and organisations, both from the public and private sectors, and for this reason, a commitment has been made to join this association by creating the Catalan chapter in Barcelona: to contribute from Catalonia to fulfil and work towards the objectives of the global Women in Tech and, at the same time, to achieve the specific objectives of the Catalan chapter and maximise its impact.

In this regard, the Catalan chapter’s action plan for this year includes the promotion of events, entrepreneurship and networking activities and mentoring and training programmes under the banner ‘Women in Tech Barcelona’. The expected impact is an increase in the number of girls interested in technology and STEM vocations, in the number of women participating as speakers at international technology conferences and events, and in the number of women in management and leadership positions in the digital and technology ecosystem.

“At Tech Barcelona, we have been working for years to advance towards parity in the technology sector, and being able to strengthen this commitment with a global seal such as Women in Tech and with the institutional support of the Generalitat will allow us to reach our objectives more quickly: to have more women in the community, more expert women and make them more visible”, says Mar Galtés, director of corporate development at Tech Barcelona. “Having role models is fundamental to generate change and we will use our entire structure of activities, community and contents to make this possible”, she adds.

The creation and promotion of the Catalan chapter of Women in Tech is therefore in line with the four action lines of the DonaTIC Plan promoted by the Government through Digital Policies to consolidate and further develop public policies that promote and recognise the role of women in the field of ICTs: making ICTs attractive to the female talent of the future; making women technologists and women-created content more visible; training and empowering everyone digitally; and promoting full and effective participation of ICT women in decision-making and entrepreneurship.