Women in Digital Forum
On June 19, 2025, Connecting Women in Digital hosted a pivotal moment for the future of digital inclusion in Brussels: the official launch of the Women in Digital Forum (WiD Forum). Organised under the Connecting Women in Digital initiative and funded by the European Union’s DIGITAL Programme, this high-level event brought together EU policymakers, industry leaders, educational institutions, and civil society to accelerate progress on closing the gender gap in digital professions.
Why the WiD forum matters?
The Forum is designed to be a permanent EU-level expert platform to tackle the structural barriers limiting the participation of women in digital roles, from early education to leadership in tech and innovation. With women representing only 19% of ICT specialists and just 33% of STEM graduates in the EU, the urgency of coordinated action could not be clearer.
As June Lowery-Kingston from the European Commission mentioned, meeting the Digital Decade’s target of 20 million ICT specialists by 2030 is impossible without fully including women in the picture. The gender gap in digital is not a side issue, it is central to Europe’s competitiveness, innovation capacity, and economic resilience.
A forum with impact
The event featured two dynamic roundtables, “Opportunities for European Talent – Advancing Women in Digital” brought together voices from Amadeus, ITU, EIT Digital and BluSpecs to discuss strategies for widening the pipeline of female digital talent. “Women in Digital Forum Launch – Ambitions and Expectations” roundtable highlighted the long-term vision of the Forum, with input from SAP, JA Europe, Cyberelles, Amadeus, and the European Vocational Training Association. Additionally, Ana Garcia Robles Secretary General at BDVA – Big Data Value Association underlined the importance of cross-sector collaboration, while Ruben Abarca Gomez from European Vocational Training Association – EVTA introduced upcoming activities, including the November WiD Annual Summit and the launch of Thematic Working Groups.
The Forum is structured around targeted working groups open to stakeholders across Europe. The first two groups launching this summer are:
- TWG1: Encouraging ICT Education: led by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, focused on breaking stereotypes and structural barriers from early education onwards. Join the thematic working group here!
- TWG2: Leadership Empowerment: chaired by VILNIUS TECH, tackling the underrepresentation of women in digital leadership and entrepreneurship. Join the thematic working group here!
Each group will kick off in late July and is open to new members until July 11 at 18:00 CET.
What’s next?
Through evidence-based policy guidance, stakeholder engagement, and public visibility, the WiD Forum aims to deliver real impact, measurable through the upcoming WiD Index, annual State-of-Play reports, and the WiD Annual Summit on November 13–14, 2025 in Brussels.