|
International Conference
Women&Technologies®: creativity and innovation
Monday, 9th November 2009
“Leonardo da Vinci” National Museum of Science and Technology
Via San Vittore 21 – Milan
PRESENTATION
The international Women&Technologies® (2008-2015) conference offers a vision of the relationship between women and technology that – rather than making recourse to gender-based arguments – can act as a tool to identify and emphasise brilliance in research, technological development and innovation; particularly in those areas most relevant to the Expo 2015.
The conference was conceived and chaired by Gianna Martinengo, who has dedicated much of her professional career as a researcher and entrepreneur to the relationship between technologies and innovation.
The first edition of the international Women&Technologies® (2008-2015) conference took place within the prestigious IFIP World Computer Congress, which was held in Italy for the first time from 7th to 10th September 2008.
An integral part of the conference was the international "Women&Technology Award", conferred by an expert panel of judges to women who proved to be able to “invent the future” with new technologies.
The second edition of Women&Technologies® (2008-2015) will take place on 9th November 2009 at the “Leonardo da Vinci” National Museum of Science and Technology, with which a partnership agreement was signed in order to allow future editions to have more extensive opportunities to consolidate both national and international collaborations and programmes.
THE SUCCESS OF THE 2008 EDITION
The Women&Technologies: research and innovation conference (8th September 2008), organized by Didael and the European Parliament (Milan Office), was attended by 41 panelists (13 were foreign, 7 contributed via web conference). These important figures – who operate within Universities, Businesses and Public Administrations worldwide – shone light on the contribution of women as creators and producers of technologies, as protagonists of research and innovation rather than mere “consumers”, in front of an international audience of over 400 people. The topics covered were: Women and ICT in Europe, Art and Affective computing; Interaction and dialogue in the Web Communities of the Future, and Innovation in Enterprises and Institutions.
It received numerous institutional acknowledgements: the High Patronage of the President of the Republic; the sponsorship of Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission for Information Society and Media, of the Higher Education and Research Ministry, of the Minister for Public Administration and Innovation, of the Equal Opportunities Minister and of the Economy and Finance Ministry – State General Accounting Department, Lombardy Region Accounting Department and Chamber of Commerce of Crotone. Complimentary messages were received from Mariastella Gelmini, Minister for Higher Education and Research, from Simonetta Matone, Private Secretary of the Equal Opportunities Ministry, and from Diana Bracco, President of Confindustria's special Research and Innovation and Expo 2015 projects. Direct participants included Alberto Mattioli, Vice President of the Province of Milan, Marco Accornero, member of the chamber committee representing Carlo Sangalli, President of Milan's Chamber of Commerce, and the MEPs Pia Locatelli, Cristiana Muscardini and Patrizia Toia.
Ample visibility was guaranteed to the institutions and companies that supported the initiative: 10,000 people received focused reports; a press conference was held (40 journalists took part), accompanied by campaigns on both traditional and new media ( RADIO 24 media partner); national and international newspapers wrote consistently about the conference (over 200 articles published); the web portal http://www.womentech.info had registered 342,334 visits and 28,330 visitors (from 50 countries) by the day of the conference.
THE 2009 EDITION: Women&Technologies®: creativity and innovation
The challenge of preparing the “2015 generation” for the future world requires the promotion of skills based on the integration of the knowledge usually gained from ‘traditional’ subjects, such as maths and logic, to that which derives from human sciences such as psychology, social sciences, cognitive sciences, teaching, anthropology, linguistics and literature. Technologies, by way of their established cross-disciplinary quality, can represent an ideal locus for the sharing of these competencies, starting with a holistic approach to the interpretation and resolution of problems.
We thus need to orient the new generations towards professional choices that contain this transversal element and to support their acquisition of expertise and knowledge through both formal (school and university) and informal learning processes.
At the same time, the business world – during this transformation from the centrality of the product to that of the service – requires skills that can respond to the needs of the individual, the environment, social interactions, solidarity or values. Consequently, the same form of innovation must be introduced as “best practice” in public administration.
Women have proved that they are not only careful users of technologies – expressing considerable wisdom and creativity in adapting them to their system of social relations and to the requirements of eco-sustainability – but also that they know how to make increasingly relevant contributions to the creation of technologies and innovation. It is thus essential that, regardless of the profession they have chosen, the number of women who consider technology the ideal locus around which to develop creativity and innovation grows.
The conference will be supported by a Strategic Committee, made up of highly-qualified international figures with the task of contributing to scientific and cultural enrichment, along with a Programme Committee and Organisational Committee.
Participants will include: international research centres, labs and science departments, university academics (both Italian and international), and representatives from the local Public Administration and globally-renowned companies. They will illustrate the work, achievements and innovative perspectives of the ‘centres for excellence’ in which they operate, presenting their stories and their successes.
A PERMANENT LABORATORY OF IDEAS AND DEBATE – 2009 ACTIVITIES
Web 2.0: Portal and Social Network
Communication and information-sharing activities relating to the topics covered by the conference have continued until today, and will proceed in preparation for the conference on 9th November thanks to:
- Women&Technologies® (http://www.womentech.info), the 2.0 portal dedicated to the initiative, with tools for dialogue and up-to-date information regarding events linked to the conference; the 2008 conference transcripts (texts, slides, audio, video) were uploaded to the portal on a weekly basis, building up an important scientific document that is accessible to all; the portal’s statistics can be viewed at http://www.womentech.info/index.php/accessi-al-portale.html
- The debate generated by the presence of groups dedicated to Women&Technologies® on the main social networking sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning.
The buzz generated by these tools has led to the creation of a true and proper “permanent laboratory of ideas and debate” for those people interested in Women&Technologies®.
Women&Technology Award 2009
2008 EDITION
In the 2008 edition, a panel of judges – made up of Cristina Bombelli (Bicocca University of Milan, Expert in Organizational Behaviour, Human Resource Management and gender differences within organizations); Diana Bracco (President of Confindustria's special Research and Innovation and Expo 2015 projects); Luca De Biase (Editor in Chief of “Nova24”, 'Il Sole 24 ore' newspaper's insert on research, innovation and creativity); Elisa Greco (Expert in Communications and Public Relations); Gianna Martinengo (Chairperson of Women & Technologies and ICT Entrepreneur); Giorgio Monaci (Manager of the Province of Milan's Business Activities and Innovation Sector); Eugenio Occorsio (Editor in Chief of “Business and Finance”, an insert of “La Repubblica” newspaper); Roberto Vacca (systems engineering and technological forecasting Consultant); Federica Villa (Presidency and Institutional Relations Manager, Milan Chamber of Commerce – gave the “Women&Technology Award” to Fiorella Operto from Genoa’s School of Robotics.
Other acknowledgements were received by:
- Researcher Nik Nailah Binti Abdullah (National Institute of Informatics – Tokyo), international acknowledgement – Province of Milan
- Gabriella Alemanno (Land Registry Office) for P.A., Committee medal for the Promotion of Female Entrepreneurship – Chamber of Commerce of Milan.
- Judith Bishop (University of Pretoria, South Africa), medal of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan.
2009 EDITION
The award will once again be conferred by a panel of qualified experts from the worlds of culture, communication and new technologies.
They will make use of an online system – usable from anywhere to indicate preferences and reasons – to determine the winners: women who are able to generate innovation and “invent the future” by creating technologies; women who have been able to integrate creativity, innovation and quality of life in their work.
|
