Garage48 and Archimedes Foundation have joined forces to organise a special Estonia 100 edition hackathon in order to encourage more women to take the entrepreneurial path. The Hackathon will take place on November 2-4 in Lviv, and is dedicated to the centenary of the Republic of Estonia. It aims to empower women in tech and business through Estonian success stories in diversity and innovation.
The demand for the event was shaped by the current status of business dynamics regarding gender and productivity. Even though IT-savvy labour is in great demand for many industries, and despite of widespread promotions for tech careers among women, it seems the ideal diversity is yet nowhere to be realized. Recent studies revealed that gender-balanced teams make a significant difference in team effectiveness, and outperform both predominantly male and predominantly female teams. However, only 29% of tech workers* in Estonia are female and the deficit of tech talent remains troubling. While challenging stereotypes for women and lack of role models are considered as the main factors leading to this situation, change can only come by doing the work on a grassroots level. That is why Archimedes Foundation, the national agency in Estonia dedicated to promoting international cooperation in education and research, teamed up with Garage48 as part of the Estonia 100 initiative to affect some real change by empowering the women (and men) of Lviv. Garage48’s experience in organizing global hackathons and enabling promising venture entrepreneurs combined with the strength of Estonian tech and education field is the perfect combination to deliver results within a short yet efficient period of time.
“Today, we are happy to see our nation on the global tech map with competitive know-how, and proud to be playing an essential role in this entire ecosystem,” stated Mari Hanikat, Garage48 CEO. “It is fascinating to witness the increasing number of female leaders running outstanding start-ups in Estonia and contributing to shaping the future. Proud as it is, the trend still needs to expand further to overcome the imbalance. Our nation’s image as a frontrunner on tech and innovation should not be shaped by gender-based competency, especially while all research underlines the importance of gender diversity as a building block for utmost business effectiveness. Garage48 is well-known with vitalising disrupting ideas through promising entrepreneurships and valuable partnerships. Together with Archimedes Foundation, we encourage everyone to participate in this trend-shaping hackathon for a sustainable national development as well as gender equality in future tech-life.”
Triinu Lillepalu, project lead from Archimedes Foundation added “Although the 100th birthday of Estonia is a time for celebration, it’s also a time to reflect on what else we can do to improve life, not only in our country, but elsewhere in the world as well. It’s great to see that more women are starting their education in IT and tech fields, which will play a big role in what jobs or ventures they pursue in the future. However, much work is still to be done and we believe this hackathon is the perfect way to celebrate Estonian strengths in tech and innovation while inspiring even more change.”
Event is supported by the local co-organiser N-ix to reach out to the ideal participant profile and run the local marketing activities as well as hosting. All event organisers emphasize that both male and female participants are invited to the hackathon for a more meaningful and synergistic development. More information can be found on Garage48 event and social media pages.
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Estonia 100 is dedicated to 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, aiming to raise Estonia’s profile globally though special projects and programmes. It provides support to more than 150 cultural, educational, research and technological events in 2017 and 2018.
Archimedes Foundation is an independent body established by the Estonian government with the objective to coordinate and implement different international and national programmes and projects in the field of training, education and research.
N-iX is an Eastern European provider of software development services with over 16 years of excellence as a reliable technology partner for innovative companies across North America, UK, and Europe. N-iX has over 800 experienced software engineers working within development centres in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and representative offices in Sweden and USA.