For our Pledgers and the Talents following the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative we would like to draw your attention to this funding opportunity.
As part of the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), the European Commission (EC) has launched its sixth call for proposals on advanced digital skills with a total budget of 2 million EUR to support girls and women in digital.
The overall objective of this Call is to improve girls and women involvement in ICT by identifying relevant hurdles and proposing practical measures to help overcome them.
ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors of employment, but women are significantly under-represented. According to Eurostat, the number of ICT specialists in the EU, from 2012 to 2022, increased by 57.8 %, almost seven times the increase for total employment. However, women only represent 21% of ICT graduates and less than 19% of ICT specialists in the EU, despite the fact that girls outperform boys in digital literacy.
This Call also contributes to gender convergence as mentioned in the Digital Decade Policy programme (DDPP) and part of its target of 20 million ICT specialists in the EU by 2030, along with the Women in Digital Declaration’s goal of equality in tech.
The Advanced Digital Skills Analysis #6 Call is open to consortiums comprising a minimum of 3 independent applicants from 3 different eligible countries across the EU to:
- Establish a network of expertise and a community of stakeholders from academia and research centres, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations across the EU, to mobilise knowledge and resources, and foster effective cooperation and communication, both internally and externally, with the aim of increasing the number of girls and women studying and/or working in ICT
- Analyse the gender gap within ICT, educationally and professionally, by identifying and documenting:
- The factors that deter girls and women from pursuing ICT studies and careers
- Effective measures to address the gender gap in the sector
- Best practices to enhance female participation and retention in ICT
- Provide a set of recommendations for actions and activities to effectively combat the EU’s gender imbalance in ICT
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