DLI Awarded by Digital Belgium Skills Fund

The Digital Leadership Institute has been awarded support from the Digital Belgium Skills Fund (DBSF) for its work to increase participation of girls and women in digital studies and careers in Belgium. In collaboration with the King Boudewijn Foundation and through support of the European Commission, DBSF aims to increase social inclusion through digital skills, especially for young people.  Launched in 2016 by Mr. Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister for the Digital Agenda, the Digital Belgium Skills Fund has a budget of €18 million which will be invested over the next three years on initiatives that teach key digital skills, including basic coding and cyber security.

Since its founding in Brussels in 2014, the Digital Leadership Institute has pioneered European and global initiatives to bridge the gender gap and digital divide, with a focus on delivering digital skills and career opportunities to the most under-served and socially excluded communities in the world.  With the support of DBSF, DLI is pleased to introduce our new team members and the exciting initiatives they will be leading in Fall 2017:

20 September-13 December – Digital Muse After School Programme: From 20 September to 13 December, DLI will organise the Digital Muse After School  program, a Wednesday afternoon (14:00-16:00) program in Brussels (EN/FR/NL) for up to 40 girls, aged 11 to 16 years old, in order to encourage them to pursue studies and careers in ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship and Arts powered by STEM).

Digital Muse After School Schedule:

The inaugural DMAS program will focus on project work that introduces digital-creative skills and career paths to participants around four themes:

 

  • 20 September-4 October:  “Talk2Me” – Smartphone App Development with MIT App Inventor for Android
  • 11-25 October:  “Teen Blogstar” – Web Design with WordPress
  • 8-22 November:  “See What I Mean” – Designing Infographics & Data Visualisation with Tableau
  • 29 November-13 December: “Future of Fashion” – Fashion Technology and Wearables with Adafruit

 

For more information about the DMAS program or to register please follow this link or contact Ms. Valentina Calà.

14-15 October – Move It Forward female digital starters weekend with Women in Music and the Arts:  On 14-15 October at BOZAR, in celebration of Women Code Festival, European Code Week, the International Week of the Girl Child and Ada Lovelace Day, DLI will partner with the Brussels Women in Tech Platform and the Brussels Electronic Marathon to organise our fourth Move It Forward Brussels event promoting female tech startup by teen and adult women from across Belgium, with women in music and the arts.

For more information about the Move It Forward weekend please contact Ms. Katja Legisa.

15 October – Digital Brusselles Music Showcase at BOZAR with Brussels Electronic Marathon:  As the closing event of the Move It Forward weekend and Women Code Festival, Digital Brusselles is thrilled to partner to support the Brussels Electronic Marathon with a musical showcase at BOZAR on Sunday, 15 October that is open to the public.  The showcase will feature women and non-binary artists from across Belgium as well as projects from the MIF weekend.

For more information about the Digital Brusselles Music Showcase with BEM17 please contact Ms. Katja Legisa.

 

16 October-30 November – “CyPro” Cyber Professional Training and Job Placement Program for Women:  In Fall 2017, DLI will launch the first cohort of its CyPro Cyber Professional Training and Job Placement Program for Women, an initiative that aims to increase participation of women with work experience in strategic IT fields such as cyber security, data science, cloud computing and CRM. Working with key content partners — including AWS, Cisco, and Salesforce — the program will offer participants an IT expert certification path in parallel with on-the-job work experience through paid placement in IT organisations.  The program will kick off with a free, expert-led, 6-week CyPro “First Steps” IT Career training series for women.  Delegates completing the entire program will be eligible for a globally-recognised IT Essentials professional certification.

CyPro “First Steps” Schedule & Instructors:

  • 16-20 October:  Intro to IoT with Ms. Mai Ensmann – Cisco Networking Academy Course Certificate
  • 23-26 October: Intro to Cybersecurity with Ms. Hiba Khalid – Cisco Networking Academy Course Certificate
  • 26-27 October:  Linux Unhatched with Ms. Hiba Khalid – Cisco Networking Academy Course Certificate
  • 6-28 November:  IT Essentials with Ms. Hiba Khalid – Cisco Networking Academy Certificate & CompTIA A+ professional certification
  • 29-30 November: AWS Technical Essentials with Ms. Hiba Khalid – AWS Educate Course Badge
  • 30 November 18:00-19:00 – CyPro “First Steps” Graduation Ceremony as part of 2017 European Ada Awards Ceremony at BeCentral in Brussels

For more information about CyPro, please contact Ms. Mai Ensmann.

21 October-18 November – Digital Brusselles Female Digital Starter Series:  Over the course of one month, the Digital Brusselles female tech incubator will host a free, four-part Female Digital Starters training series that will address themes unique to digital startup by women. If you have joined previous inQube events, these trainings will build on the skills have learned and help move you forward on your path to digital startup!  If you have not participated in past events, do not worry. The content of these courses is geared toward new and recent starters, and all participants will benefit to the maximum.

Female Digital Starters Schedule & Instructors:

For more information about the Female Digital Starters series, please contact Ms. Katja Legisa.

25 October – Digital Brusselles Female Tech Incubator Launch:  On 25 October at BeCentral in Brussels, DLI will launch the first female tech incubator in Europe, building on its pioneering five-year inQube work promoting female digital startup.  The Digital Brusselles incubator will support DLI’s world class “Move It Forward” weekends with ongoing tech and entrepreneurship training for community-members; provide a space for hot-desking, networking and events for female tech starters; and facilitate consultation with experts who will provide broad-reaching support for launching women-led tech projects into the Belgian startup ecosystem.

For more information about the Digital Brusselles launch event, please contact Ms. Katja Legisa.

 

30 November – 2017-18 European Ada Awards Ceremony: In celebration of the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, DLI will host the European Ada Awards in Brussels.  For the fifth consecutive year, DLI will recognise outstanding women and girls in digital fields across Europe, as well as organisations working to increase the participation of women and girls in tech. This year, the awards ceremony will take place on 30 November at BeCentral in Brussels, and nominations in the following categories are open until 30 October:

For more information about the 2017-18 European Ada Awards, please contact Ms. Loredana Bucseneanu.

To keep up-to-date about these and other activities organized by DLI, please consult our calendar and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  For press and media inquiries about Digital Brusselles or other DLI projects, please contact Ms. Katrien Geraedts.

Register Now for Digital Muse After School

After reaching nearly 500 girls with our Girl Tech Fest initiative, Digital Muse plans to keep inspiring girls with a Digital Muse After School (DMAS) program, taking place at our female tech incubator in Brussels on Wednesdays after school, 14:00-16:00.

What is Digital Muse After School?

Digital Muse After School is a program for up to 40 teen girls, ages 11 to 16, focused on encouraging them to pursue studies and careers in ESTEAM:  Entrepreneurship and Arts, powered by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

The first DMAS series, taking place between 20 September and 13 December 2017, is focused on four thematic areas that introduce participants to the variety of opportunities that a career in technology has to offer.

DMAS 2017 Timeline – Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00

  • Start:  20 September 2017
  • End:   13 December 2017

DMAS 2017 Class Schedule

  • 20 September-4 October:  Android Programming with MIT App Inventor
  • 11-25 October:  Web Development with WordPress
  • 8-22 November:  Data Visualization with Tableau
  • 29 November-13 December:  Electrical Engineering/Wearables with Adafruit

Information and Rolling Registration:  http://bit.ly/DMAS17

****FRANCAIS****

Suite au succès de notre “Girl Tech Fest” auquel plus de 450 filles ont participé, Digital Muse veux continuer inspirer les filles et lance son programme parascolaire “Digital Muse After School” (DMAS).

Qu’est-ce que le DMAS?

Digital Muse After School est un programme parascolaire qui peut accueillir jusqu’au 40 participantes, ayant le but d’encourager les filles à poursuivre des études et des carrières dans les domaines de l’entrepreneuriat, science, technologie, ingénierie, arts et mathématique (ESTEAM)

Le premier semestre est axé sur le développement des projets pendants trois semaines au cours desquelles les filles apprendront des notions qui couvrent trois domaines thématiques (développement d’Android, conception web, visualisation des données et l’ingénierie électrique/“Wearables”) afin d’introduire les filles aux nombreuses options qu’une carrière dans le domaine de la technologie peut offrir.

****NEDERLANDS****

450 meisjes hebben al genoten van ons Girl Tech Fest evenement. Nu lanceert Digital Muse het Afterschool programma en zal hiermee de meisjes blijven inspireren.

Wat is het?

Het is een programma met 40 meisjes, dat focust op het stimuleren van jonge meisjes om hun studies af te werken en een job aan te gaan in ESTEAM (entrpreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics). Tijdens het eerste semester, zullen de meiden werken aan een Androidontwikkeling, ontwerpen van een website, data visualisatie en elektrotechniek, om ze kennis te laten maken met verschillende carrière mogelijkheden in technologie.

 

 

 

 

 

Move It Forward Sofia with Women Roma

On 8-9 July in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Digital Leadership Institute, Women’s Entrepreneurship PlatformBegital and Trust for Social Achievement and their partners hosted a Move It Forward female digital starters event with Women Roma.  Move It Forward is an initiative of inQube, DLI‘s female digital accelerator, and is supported by the Digital Belgium Skills Fund, top technology companies, non-profit organisations, and youth and women’s networks and communities. Its objective is to give teen and adult women* the skills to become digital entrepreneurs and leaders, and to support them in driving positive change in their communities.

*anyone who identifies as a woman

2017-18 Ada Awards Launched at Digital Agenda Assembly

On 16 June 2017, in celebration of the 2017 European Digital Assembly taking place as part of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners are proud to launch online nominations for the fourth annual edition of the European Ada Awards, a long-standing pledge to the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition for Europe.

The European Ada Awards recognise top girls and women in digital studies and careers in Europe, and organisations impacting the ecosystem to increase participation of girls and women in tech.

To nominate candidates for the 2017-18 European Ada Awards, please visit the links below:

Questions and interest to support the Ada Awards may be directed to DLI here. National partners are actively being sought to roll out the Ada Awards across Europe and around the world.

The Ada Awards are an initiative of the Digital Leadership Institute in partnership with CEPIS, DIGITALEUROPE, ECWT
and European Schoolnet.

Girl Coding Power at Salesforce Essentials

On 1 June in Louvain-La-Neuve, girls and women from across Belgium joined an all-female Android coding workshop organized by the Digital Leadership Institute in the context of Salesforce Essentials, a large-scale event reaching over 600 Salesforce enthusiasts. The workshop, carried out as part of our Digital Muse initiative in collaboration with Salesforce Belux and Salesforce.org, attracted participants ranging in age from ten to fifty-five, who benefited from hands-on coding lessons using MIT App Inventor and inspiring talks by Salesforce employees.

Ms. Cécile Kempeneers is a role model with plenty of role models!

Ms. Cécile Kempeneers, a Salesforce Belux Senior Account Executive who also co-organized a workshop at the most recent Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2017, shared with participants about her own role models and people who inspired her to enter a career in tech — including her grandfather, but also Elon Musk, Michelle Obama, Emma Watson and Malala Yousafzai.  Ms. Carmina Coenen, Salesforce Manager for Solution Engineering, also captured everyone’s imagination with a promise that coding and working with Salesforce would give them more options for an exciting and rewarding career.

Ms. Carmina Coenen inspires the Digital Muses

Workshop attendees showed a clear talent for developing their own Android smartphone application that translates speech from one language into spoken output in another language.  The talks by Ms. Coenen and Ms. Kempeneer also piqued their interest in career opportunities with Salesforce.

“We are excited to build on this interest by offering our community more curriculum on smartphone app-development and on becoming certified Salesforce CRM experts,” commented Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder.  “We look forward to pursuing this collaboration going forward, for the benefit of both Salesforce and for these amazing girls of all ages!”

DigitalMuse.org & Salesforce Selfie