It's finally here - WoW Knowledge Hub š„³; The STARTS yearly competition is back; 1st Swiss FemTech accelerator Tech4Eva launches; 80+ grants opportunities for founders + more
Your go-to place for the latest news and updates on diversity in tech and emerging technologies - wearables, health tech, and IoT.
Happy Monday everyone! š
Photo source: The Monument to the Unknown Woman Worker in Great Victoria Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland by Louise Walsh. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA
After a year that has seenĀ women more likely to be furloughed,Ā lose their jobs,Ā carry the burden of homeschoolingĀ andĀ domestic drudgery, women are increasingly fearful about their futures, with almost half of those surveyed in a Mumsnet poll for International Womenās Day expecting gender equality to go into reverse over the next few years.
As children return to school in England, the poll reveals that women have borne the burden of closures, with 70% of mothers with male partners doing all or most of the homeschooling. Three-quarters of women said that during lockdown it was easier for their partner to work uninterrupted (echoingĀ findings from the Institute of Fiscal Studies), one in five mothers in paid work said they had reduced their working hours to cope with increased childcare, and more than a third said their careers had been affected in a way that was not true for their partner.
āWe urgently need investment in childcare, we need employers reporting on sex-disaggregated redundancies data ā we need a really serious focus on women. But without women in the room, without women in positions of power, it is just not going to happen.ā - Felicia Willow, chief executive of the Fawcett Society
āWhatās needed is aĀ proper womenās strategy, with specific policies to redress the inequality thatās been triggered by Covid, or weāre at real risk of heading right back to the 1970s with regard to womenās economic power.ā - Justine Roberts, MumsnetĀ founderĀ
Read the full story via Guardian.
And letās not forget thatā¦ šš½
Thank you for tuning in this Monday, happy reading! š
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! š„³
This International Womenās Day, we are excited to finally share the news! We are launching WoW Knowledge Hub for our WoW members - a place of learning, asking questions, connecting, sharing lessons, knowledge, and experiences!Ā
A WoW Knowledge Hub is an online program for WoW members consisting of carefully curated sessions with WoW experts covering areas such as product development, PR and marketing, legal, investment, and fundraising, and everything in between. As usual, we will try to cover many sectors such as health tech, femtech, wearables, smart textiles and fashion tech, and more. Our members will be able to access these recorded sessions anytime through our database of resources.Ā
Upcoming March sessions šš½
ā”ļø āIP lessons for tech startups in the USā with WoW Expert-in-Residence: Giordana Mahn, US patent attorney at Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
ā”ļø āIP lessons for tech startups in the UK and Europeā with WoW Expert in Residence: Miranda Kent, Ā the UK and European Patent Attorney at Mathys & Squire LLP
ā”ļø āPR and Media for Health Tech and FemTech Startupsā with WoW Expert In Residence Marina Gerner, Journalist, and Writer, and WoW Expert In Residence Marija Butkovic, Founder and CEO of Women of Wearables, Forbes contributorĀ
ā”ļø āAlpha, Beta, Funded: Going from an Idea to a Technical Roadmapā with WoW Experts In Residence Steph Goltsov and Greg Goltsov from Osta Labs
ā”ļø āPartnering with the NHSā with WoW Expert In Residence Catherine Davies, Managing Partner at Monticle
Interested in joining our community as a WoW Expert in Residence? Become a WoW member and join our network of experts!
SPECIAL OFFER for IWD2021 - use code WELCOME for 20% off individual annual membership fee! Check out our IWD giveaway here!
Upcoming WoW webinars and virtual meetups š š
Happening in March šš½
š Webinar - Future of Work for Women: The āMotherhood Penaltyā and The Gender Pay Gap, March 24, 6pm GMT (FREE to attend)
šĀ WoW Members' Meet & Greet - HealthTech and FemTech, March 17Ā (10am and 6pm GMT, for WoW members in the health tech and femtech space)
Happening in April šš½
š WoW Members Meet & Greet - Wearables, Fashion and Fashion Tech, April 14 (10am and 6pm BST, for WoW members in wearable tech and fashion tech space)
š Webinar - Fertility Innovations: New Solutions for Future Choices, April 15, 6:30pm BST (FREE to attend, in partnership with The Fertility Partnership)
Interested in joining us for one of our future webinars or you would like to discuss partnership and collaboration? Get in touch!
+ Happening today! šš½
š For IWD2021, Wear It Berlin GmbH is excited to dive into FemTech with female leaders in the wearable tech industry. Our CEO Marija Butkovic is one of the speakers. More info + ticket bookingĀ here.
WoW community events, news, and updates š»šš
A word from our partners šš½
Join the 1st Swiss FemTech Accelerator ā Tech4Eva, a joint program between EPFL Innovation Park and Groupe Mutuel for companies developing innovative solutions to improve technologies relating to womenās health and to achieve growth.Ā
Gathering a batch of around 15 selected start-ups, the program will gather a number of promising projects addressing women's health, offer the opportunity to individuals and corporates to join the conversation, propose and develop solutions and become partners. This will further strengthen the cluster, bringing together different contributors in the open ecosystem.Ā
The 9-month program will start in April 2021 with a kick-off event and it will be followed by a series of expert workshops, challenges, and roadshows in different locations, to exchange with the local FemTech community while interacting with international players. The program itself is a mix of physical and digital events and initiatives. A "Demo Day" will conclude the first year, in December, where FemTech innovators will meet the ecosystem, investors, and corporates that are ready to collaborate and contribute to the prevention, treatment, and care of women's health.
š Our friends from OCON Healthcare are running a webinar about patient management on March 18. Join here!
š Our member Maryon Stewart had her first TV appearance recently. Congrats, Maryon! š„³
š Our member Riika needs your help! Her startup Styleuncoded builds tech that supports circular business models in fashion, with the aim to create more conscious ways to shop and consume fashion online. Join their study and help them build experiences that are scalable for brands and attractive for consumers!
š JoinĀ Springboard Enterprises, theĀ Women's Health Innovation Coalition, andĀ AccentureĀ for their next event in the 2021 Women's Health Innovation Forum Series. This next event will focus on women's autoimmune health and will take placeĀ on March 31st at 11am EST -Ā RSVP here.
š Our friends from The Case For Her have welcomed their new Managing Director Shannon Lƶvgren.
š Our members CorDiFio HealthĀ - a femtech startup with the mission of solving misdiagnosis of heart disease in women are looking for a CTO / potential co-founder to join the team.Ā Do you want to be part of it? Or do you know someone who wants to take on this challenge? More info in theĀ CTO role presentation and/or get in touch with Petronela Sandulache atĀ petronela.s@gmail.comĀ or viaĀ LinkedIn!
š The STARTS yearly competition is back to awardĀ twoĀ innovative projectsĀ at the nexus of science, technology, and the arts that have what it takes toĀ make a significant impactĀ on economic and social innovation. Winners will receive each ā¬20.000 and beĀ prominently featured atĀ Ars ElectronicaĀ and other events of the consortium partners BOZAR, Waag, INOVA+, T6 Ecosystems, French Tech Grande Provence, and Frankfurter Buchmesse. Check the submission and evaluation timetable here.
š Our member - parenting-support platformĀ Pachamama - is building an app that connects parents with experts via text and video message. They're looking to create a decision-tree algorithm to automatically respond to questions from users, before pairing them with an expert. Please contactĀ arianna@pachamama-london.com to find out more!
š New on WoW women blog šš½
WoW Woman in FemTech I Sophia Yen, CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health
WoW Woman in FemTech I Lisa Krapinger, CMO at Carbomed Medical Solutions
WoW Woman in HealthTech I Irina Groysman, Business Consulting Manager at ZS
WoW Woman in FemTech I Zohar Horovitz Limor, VP Product at GynTools
WoW Woman in FemTech I Michelle Caira, founder and CEO of Fit Mama Fitness Inc
For Female Founders, Women In Tech & Allies š©š¾āāļøš©š¼āš«š©āš¬
Become a WoW memberĀ to learn from and connect with our community of entrepreneurs, designers, and technologists, leverage valuable resources, and discover career opportunities!
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