Women are an important source of talent that too often are discouraged or turned away from the world of tech. Inclusivity unlocks Europe’s potential for innovation - women-founded tech scale-ups grew 1.2 times faster than their competitors over the past five years. It shows the degree of potential Europe can tap if it makes tech more inclusive to women, to their talents and ambitions.

Given its pioneering role in innovation at European level, the European Innovation Council takes a proactive role in correcting gender imbalances and actively promotes and supports the role of women entrepreneurs and researchers to boost Europe’s innovation capacity. This includes the prioritisation of women CEOs invited to Accelerator interviews, dedicated initiatives such as Women TechEU to support early-stage deep tech start-ups funded and led by women, and its Women Leadership Programme to provide coaching and mentoring to EIC-funded women entrepreneurs.

The EIC also awards an annual European Prize for Women Innovators, in cooperation with the European Institute of Technology, to recognise and promote women entrepreneurs who have founded a successful company and brought their innovations to market. This year marks the 10th edition of this prize and next week during the EIC Summit we will be celebrating women’s outstanding contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe."

- Michiel Scheffer, EIC Board President