Women in Digital Forum officially launched: laying the foundation for a more inclusive digital Europe
On June 19, 2025, the Women in Digital Forum (WIDCON) was officially launched at the European Commission’s DG Connect premises in Brussels, bringing together decision-makers, innovators, educators, and civil society actors to tackle a shared challenge: increasing the participation and leadership of women and girls in Europe’s digital sectors. WIDCON is a long-term, expert-led initiative aiming to move from analysis to action-shaping policy, sharing solutions, and creating a digital Europe that is inclusive, competitive, and future-ready.
Structured around key sessions and expert panels, the launch laid the groundwork for concrete collaboration, data-driven innovation, and systemic change. Below is a recap of the day’s agenda and the insights that emerged.
Opening Address and Keynote – The State of Play and the Competitiveness Imperative. June Lowery-Kingston, Senior Expert at DG-CNECT, opened the Forum by stressing that digital inclusion is “critical to Europe’s competitiveness and democratic resilience.”
In her keynote on the state of gender and digital in Europe, June outlined a critical scenario: women account for just 20% of the EU’s digital workforce, and the continent is behind on its 2030 target of 20 million ICT specialists.
She described how fragmented and short-lived initiatives have failed to deliver structural results, and presented “Connecting Women in Digital” as the missing infrastructure, a unifying framework capable of linking Member States, educational actors, and industry around common metrics and goals. The Forum goes beyond visibility and focuses on governance. It will produce concrete tools including a Women Edition Index, a community of practice through expert working groups, and an annual summit to shape EU-wide agendas.
Opportunities for European Talent – Advancing women in digital
The first panel of the day explored what it takes to unlock Europe’s digital potential by removing barriers for women. Moderated by Brendan Rowan (Managing Consultant at BluSpecs), the roundtable brought together Sylvia Poll Arhens (Senior Gender and Youth, Gender and Youth Office, General Secretariat International Telecommunication Union), Luciano Pollastri (Global Talent Director at Amadeus IT Group, S.A), and Diva Tommei (Chief of Innovation and Investments/CMO, EIT Digital). The speakers highlighted key systemic gaps, notably in cybersecurity where 56% of companies report no women on staff, and emphasized that the issue lies not only in recruitment but also in how the digital sector is framed from an early age.
Sylvia Poll Arhens focused on the importance of consistent gender-sensitive policy frameworks at international and national level. Luciano Pollastri underscored the value of intersectional talent pipelines and stressed that innovation emerges from the collision of different perspectives. Diva Tommei called for a rebranding of digital education to make it more attractive to girls, suggesting that narratives focused on creativity, purpose and impact could help shift mindsets in both classrooms and companies.
“Innovation happens at the collision of different perspectives.” — Luciano Pollastri
“To engage more girls in tech, we must change the narrative — from logic and numbers to purpose and impact.” — Diva Tommei
“We need to go beyond convincing the convinced. The real work is in reaching those who still think this isn’t a priority.” — Sylvia Poll Ahre
Women In Digital Forum Launch – Ambitions and Expectations
Laure Le Bars warned of the risks of losing talent at multiple stages of the pipeline, and advocated for policies that follow women beyond entry-level positions. Salvatore Nigro emphasised the need to support those developing solutions — especially young women — rather than focusing only on the problem holders. Samia Ghozlane called for gender to be embedded in funding criteria, procurement standards and leadership evaluation frameworks.
“We’re not lacking talent—we’re losing it at every stage of the pipeline.” – Laure Le Bars
“This Forum must be disruptive. We can’t convert those who created the problem — we must empower those who will solve it.” – Salvatore Nigro
“If we want real impact, we need gender to be the compass — not a footnote.” — Samia Ghozlane
“Sometimes real change starts with the small things — like rewriting job ads so that women feel invited, not excluded.” – Luciano Pollastri
Increasing the impact for The Women In Digital Forum
The interactive session that followed invited participants to shape the Forum’s priorities through live polling. Facilitated by Ana Garcia Robles, Secretary General of the Big Data Value Association, the session surfaced core areas of action: breaking silos between sectors, engaging men more directly in leadership and accountability roles, using media and culture to shift narratives, and moving from event-based to ecosystem-based approaches.
Many underlined the need to stop reinventing isolated pilot projects and instead build long-term capacity for institutional learning.
Upcoming Activities from Connecting Women in Digital
In the final plenary, Ruben Abarca Gomez (EU Policy and Project Officer at EVTA), introduced the two Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) that will serve as WIDCON’s first operational engines. The first, chaired by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, focuses on inclusive ICT education, from early schooling to vocational and higher training, and will deliver policy briefs, guidelines, and role model toolkits. The second, led by VILNIUS TECH – Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, aims to break structural barriers to women’s digital leadership, producing advocacy tools, organisational strategy templates, and leadership development resources.
The call for expert contributors remains open until 11 July 2025.
What’s Next?
The Forum launch was only the beginning. In November 2025, Brussels will host the first Women in Digital Summit, featuring the launch of the Women in Digital Index, presentation of TWG outputs and dialogue between policymakers, industry and civil society.
✍ Ready to act? Become part of the Women in Digital Forum and help shape Europe’s digital future: https://widigital.eu/wid-forum-launch/
