2019-10-01
To encourage more women to join the technology industry and draw attention to women who have built a successful career in this sector, the Women in Tech Conference will be held at the Business Technology Event RIGA COMM 2019 on October 11. Women will share their success stories and encourage other women to engage in the business and technology creation process.
Anna Andersone, a chief empowerment officer of Riga TechGirls, points out: “There is a shortage of IT personnel in Latvia that will sum up to at least 16,000 specialists by 2022. Moreover, there is only around 20% share of women in this sector. Women have huge potential that is currently untapped in the technology industry” Increased numbers of women in technology companies would not only improve gender balance but also encourage progress: women’s skills, knowledge and broad vision would allow for even better products and solutions.
Women – architects building the future today
In the first full-day conference in Latvia “Women in Tech” will participate one of Norway’s most high-profile female executives Berit Svendsen, currently a vice president of the financial technology company Vipps. Inspiring Fifty ranked Berit among the Europe’s top 50 women tech entrepreneurs in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, she was named the most powerful woman in Norwegian business.
Debbie Forster is a prominent person in the field of technology, innovation, diversity and education. She is the founder and CEO of Tech Talent Charter and her goal is to achieve greater gender diversity in the UK tech jobs market. Since 2013, she has regularly featured in the 25 Most Influential Women in IT list by Computer Weekly, and in 2018, Debbie ranked third. She started as an English teacher and worked her way up to headmistress. She recognised the potential of technology early on and worked to make it more accessible to young people, since it allows children to be creative and opens up so many career options.
A speaker from Brazil, Bárbara Schorchit is a founder of Genecoin, the finalist of the UN Environmental Programme Prize “Young Champions of the Earth” (2019), a chemical engineer and an awarded young entrepreneur. Barbara will tell how blockchain technology can contribute to biodiversity.
We can also be proud of Latvian representatives – Līga Krūmiņa, a chief technical officer at Tele2 Latvia, Valērija Makijenko, a product development manager at Visma, and Agate Ambulte, an advisor on IT and Smart Digital Solutions, who is strengthening the community of IT professionals in Liepāja. Find out more about other lecturers of the Women in Tech Conference Programme of conferences.
The “Women in Tech” conference takes place on October 11, working language – English. The conference is held in cooperation with Riga TechGirls, a community dedicated to educating and inspiring girls and women about technology.
RIGA COMM is an annual business technology fair and conference where developers and suppliers of enterprise resource management, document management, HRM and security systems, suppliers of cloud services, internet and digital marketing services, web solutions and mobile application developers, and ICT product manufacturers offer ready-to-use and tailored solutions for companies in different industries and of different sizes, municipal authorities and organisations to facilitate efficient operation..
RIGA COMM is held by the International Exhibition Company BT 1.
Venue and opening hours:
Kipsala International Exhibition Centre (Ķīpsalas Street 8, Riga)
October 10, 10.00-18.00
October 11, 10.00-17.00
Tickets are available online as well as in the box office during the event days. As the event approaches, tickets will become more expensive.