Organise Your Own Move It Forward Event!

As an outcome of the Move It Forward+ project, funded by the European Union Erasmus+ program, a toolkit for organising your very own Move It Forward (“MIF”) event–as well as CSR and mentoring activities to promote women (digital) entrepreneurs–is now available free, online for the public!

Move It Forward is an event footprint–sometimes called a “hackathon” or “tech-for-good” initiative–originally developed by the Digital Leadership Institute as part of its inQube “female digital accelerator” program. With MIF and other activities, inQube aims to support teen and adult women entrepreneurs by providing community, digital and business skills, and other resources they need to launch and grow successful digitally-enabled and digitally-driven enterprises.

Including Move It Forward+ project activities, the Move It Forward event has been organized 20 times in 9 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, reaching thousands of participants, since 2014. In 2018, MIF received a Global Mobile Award, and in 2019 was recognised as European finalist for the UN ITU EQUALS in Tech Award.

Materials developed and made available within the MIF+ project are available for download on the Move It Forward+ website and below.

Please feel free to contact us for more information about and support with organising a Move It Forward event in your own city!

1. Guides: How to organise a Move it forward+ Event

We provide our Guides in 5 different languages, to support you with the organisation of your Move it forward+ event.

2. Event Preparation Documents

You can find additional and printable materials here:

3. In-event Documents

You can find a variety of printable material here:

4. Guides: How to organise mentoring sessions

You will find here all the resources related to the organisation of mentoring sessions linked to your Move it foward+ event.

Annexe n°1: Impact and assessment of women programmes and events supporting women in entrepreneurship.

Annexe n°2: Mentor’s portfolio & Mentee’s portfolio

5. Event Presentations

Our Event Presentation will be available soon!

DLI Update – Winter 2022

Happy 2022 to all our friends and collaborators!

The DLI Board are actively involved in outreach activities with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out more below about our outreach activities in Winter 2021-22, including the 22 December 2021 launch of the the G20 Women20 2022 Indonesia Presidency, attended by DLI’s director. For upcoming events by DLI and our partners please visit here, and have a look at our calendar.

*Entrepreneurship and Art powered by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

15-17 November – SME Assembly 2021 (Portorož, Slovenia & Online): On 15-17 November 2021, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  joined the SME Assembly 2021, hosted by the European Commission and taking place in Portorož, Slovenia and online, as part of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council.


17 November 2021 – “Solutions Through Inclusivity” Group of Nations Virtual Summit:  Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  joined a fireside chat on Digital Equity to Build Forward Better as part of a 17 November event on Solutions Through Inclusivity–celebrating 25 years of Group of Nations global events, including G20, W20, B20 and APEC.


25-26 November – Fin2021  Porto, Portugal  and Online): On 26 November 2021, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  provided a keynote presentation on the subject of Techno World at the FIN2021 event taking place in Porto, Portugal and online.  The event was supported by JEUNE, a pan-European organisation representing 1.6 million young entrepreneurs, for which Miller recently became Advisory Board member.


30 November – Udacity STEM Forward with Women: On 30 November 2021, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  contributed to an online panel promoting success for women in STEM  as part of the STEM Forward with Women event hosted online by Udacity.


2 December – Projexplorer Navigating the Future of Project Economy (online):  On 2 December 2021, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  joined a Projexplorer event on Navigating the Future of Project Economy with a keynote speech on the topic of Sexism in Tech:  Unlearn What You Know.


6 December – WEgate Community Council Meeting (Online):  Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined the third  meeting of the WEgate Community Council, supporting women entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond, on 6 December online.


9 December – Path to the Digital Decade  (Online):  On 9 December, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director,  provided a keynote address for an event of the Digital SkillUp project, on the topic of Path to the Digital Decade: Inclusive & Sustainable Upskilling for All, hosted by DIGITAL SME Alliance.


14 December – EIC Women Leadership Programme (Online):  Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, provided a keynote presentation for the 14 December EIC Women Leadership Program Personal Leadership Brand session, on the subject of Remaining Authentic in the Face of Adversity.

21 December – Italy-Indonesia Women20 Handover:  On 21 December, in the capacity of Head of EU Delegation to the G20 Women20, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined the Italy-Indonesia Women20 Handover meeting.

22 December – Indonesia 2022 G20 Women20 Presidency Launch:   In the new capacity of Co-head of EU Delegation to the G20 Women20, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined the 22 December launch event of the Indonesia 2022 G20 Women20 and G20 Empower Presidency.


To browse past activities with DLI and our partners, please click here.  Be sure to also visit our calendar, sign up for the DLI Newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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DLI Update – Summer 2021

The DLI Board are actively involved in outreach activities with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out more below about our outreach activities in Summer 2021, including participation at the G20 Italy 2021 Women20 Summit in Rome where the G20 Italy 2021 Women20 Communiqué was delivered with contributions by all delegations including the EU led by Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck. For upcoming activities by DLI and its partners please visit here, and have a look at our calendar for events organised by DLI.

*Entrepreneurship and Art powered by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics


4 June – “AI and Business” BSBI Café Scientifique (Online): On 4 June, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined an online panel on the topic of “AI and Business,” as part of the Café Scientifique series hosted by Berlin School of Business and Innovation.


17 June – EU Parliament Workshop “Digital Gender Gap(Online): On 17 June, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, spoke at an online workshop on The Digital Gender Gap, addressing the subject of “Access to Funding for Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital Ecosystem,” for Members of European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research & Energy (ITRE) Committee.


23 June – “Impact of the W20 in the Lives of European Women” Panel (Online): Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, joined a panel discussion, with opening remarks by Vice Presidents of the EU Parliament and European Commission, on the “Impact of the W20 in the Lives of European Women,” hosted by the G20 Women20.


13-15 July – G20 Women20 Italy Summit (Rome & Online): On 13-15 July, 2021 G20 Italy Women20, the women’s stakeholder engagement group to the G20 meetings in Italy, hosted the 2021 Women20 Summit in Rome, Italy. Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI Founding Director, participated at the Summit as Head of the EU W20 Delegation and Co-chair of the W20 Italy Digital Working Group.


Be sure to visit our Calendar and Outreach Activities page to keep up with DLI events and activities! You can also and sign up for the DLI Newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!

Cheryl Miller Elected Chair of Women Entrepreneurship Platform

1 June 2021, Brussels, Belgium –  Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Director of Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute, was recently elected at a General Assembly meeting to the role of Chairwoman and President of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (“WEP”), the pan-European membership organization whose mission is promoting women-led enterprise in Europe with a focus on advocacy, network-building, and knowledge-sharing. Miller Van Dÿck succeeds Grazia Rendo. 

Miller Van Dÿck was a founding WEP member in 2013 and board member of WEP since 2018.  She concurrently holds the position of Head of EU Delegation for the Women20 engagement group to the G20, and is former Chair of the European Centre for Women and Technology in Belgium, and Governing Board Member of the Digital Skill and Jobs Coalition for the European Commission.

As Director of the Digital Leadership Institute, Miller Van Dÿck has long championed women entrepreneurs in Europe particularly in digital fields, and of her new role says, “women-led enterprise is always and everywhere the most dynamic engine for economic growth.” Under her leadership, and with support from a membership representing 10 million women entrepreneurs across Europe, Miller Van Dÿck says “in the coming three years, WEP will prioritize its role as top advocate for a sustainable, green and digital recovery, and transformation in Europe led by women.”

DLI Announces New EU Projects

DLI and partners of the ATHENA consortium have been awarded program funding from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in order to support women of migrant backgrounds across Europe to take up entrepreneurship. Partners to the ATHENA (“Approaches To valorise the High ENtrepreneuriAl potential of migrant women”) project, which will launch in January 2021, include the following:

DLI has also been awarded Erasmus+ funding to lead the WE4Change (“Girls and Women connecting for environmental change”) project, with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship in STEM fields by girls and women through climate change activism. Members of the WE4Change project include the following organisations:

The DLI team is excited to take up these new projects that support our mission to increase entrepreneurship by girls and women, especially in science and technology fields, in 2021!

World’s First #WomenVsCOVID19 Hackathon

On 24-26 April, as part of the #EUvsVirus event attracting 20,000 participants from around the world, the Digital Leadership Institute and its partners hosted the first-ever global #WomenVsCovid19 hackathon tackling the unique challenges facing girls and women from COVID19 .  With 160 participants, ranging from 16 to 70 years of age and representing over 25 countries, the three-day “Move It Forward” event brought together policy-makers and private sector actors to support teen and adult women in driving solutions to the address the coronavirus pandemic.

Move It Forward for #WomenVsCOVID19 participants enjoyed interventions from European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, Ms. Julie Linn Teigland, Global Director for Women Fast Forward at EY, Ms. Anna Falth of UN Women, Ms. Pirkko Mahlamäki from European Women’s Lobby, and Ms. Bernadette Gemmell of the European Institute for Gender Equality.  Miss Alai Miranda Blanco Lascurain, recipient of DLI’s 2019  European Digital Girl of the Year award, also inspired participants by sharing about her own 3D-printed invention supporting frontline healthworkers in Spain, vast majority of whom are women.

During the event, Move It Forward project teams also benefited from expert mentorship and digital skills trainings–including website development, smartphone app coding, and data visualization–in order to develop initiatives that tackle economic and social challenges impacting the world’s girls and women as a result of COVID19.

Top #WomenVsCOVID19 projects, recognised by a world class jury including Ms. Charlene Lambert from Women’s Entrepreneurship Platform, Ms. Wendy Diamond of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization, Ms. Jaya Jiwatram, of UN Women, Ms. Anne Ravanona of Global InvestHer, and Ms. Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck from DLI, were the following:

  1. All-Around Award:  WAVEA smartphone application tackling psychological abuse and delivering pan-European emergency-response for victims of violence against women and girls
  2. Innovation AwardExit Tales – An animated documentary of COVID19 stories from the perspective of migrant children
  3. Impact AwardArt Time with GrandmaAn inter-generational art-making project promoting women artists and connecting kids and elderly women in order to combat isolation during COVID19

DLI and partner Global InvestHer will support winning #WomenVsCOVID19 projects with incubation, mentorship, and training, and projects are also eligible for further support from the wider #EUvsVirus event that announced prizes for the top projects among over 1500 delivered.

Event partners also committed to supporting recognized projects and #MoveItForward events in other geographies. The first #MoveItForward for #WomenVsCOVID19 event was live-streamed on the DLI Facebook page, and links to the separate sessions may be found below.

Thank you to all of our amazing partners who made this event such a success!  Please do not hesitate to reach out to us to support future editions of #MoveItForward!

DLI Update – May-June 2019

The Digital Leadership Institute Board and Executive Team are actively involved in outreach activities with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women.  Find out more about our outreach activities of May and June 2019 below, and please visit our calendar for events organised by DLI.

*STEM powered by Entrepreneurship and Arts


10 May 2019 – Women in ICT Sharing Experiences (Brussels) : On 10 May, Ms. Katja Legisa, DLI inQube Director,  joined the eighth edition of the Women in ICT Sharing Experiences Annual Networking event organised by the Centre for Balanced Leadership in Brussels.


15 May 2019 – EC Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Governing Board Meeting (Brussels) : Ms. Che Van Dyck, DLI Founding Director,  joined the seventh meeting of the Governing Board for the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, taking place in Brussels on 15 May.


21 May 2019 – STEM Fair (Los Angeles): On 21 May, Ms. Che Van Dyck, DLI Founding Director, contributed to organising a STEM Fair in Los Angeles County, in order to encourage young people, especially girls, to pursue studies and careers in these areas.


28 May 2019 – Computer Science Panel (Los Angeles) : Ms. Che Van Dyck, DLI Founding Director, joined a panel promoting Computer Science studies and careers for Los Angeles County high school students, especially young women, taking place on 28 May in Redondo Beach.


13 June 2019 – Digital Skills and Jobs Governing Board Meeting (Bucharest): On 13 June, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder,  joined the eighth meeting of the Governing Board of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition of Europe. The meeting took place in Bucharest as part of Digital Assembly 2019, hosted by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Ms. Loredana Bucseneanu, DLI Director of Development, also joined the event as representative of Belgium to the joint meeting of the National Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs.


13 June 2019 – WEgate Stakeholder Meeting (Brussels): On 13 June July in Brussels, Ms. Katja Legisa, DLI Entrepreneurship Director,  joined a stakeholder meeting for the WEgate platform, an initiative of the European Commission aimed at stimulating and supporting women-led entrepreneurship in Europe.


26-28 June 2019 – Mobile World Congress (Shanghai): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder,  joined the Mobile World Congress on 26-28 June in Shanghai as a guest of hosts GSMA, and participated in the Women4Tech Summit that took place on 27 June.


Be sure to visit our Calendar and Outreach Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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DLI Launches Europe’s First Female Tech Incubator

On 25 October in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute launched Digital Brusselles, Europe’s first female tech incubator, with the mission of promoting inclusive digital transformation by increasing leadership of girls and women in the digital society. The launch event, which took place as part of the first Open Door Day at BeCentral, was supported by the Digital Belgium Skills Fund and dozens of DLI partners, and attended by hundreds of DLI community members.

Ms. Saskia Van Uffelen, CEO of Ericsson Belux and Digital Champion of Belgium, provided a keynote to kick off the launch event and was joined in a panel on “The Heart of Inclusive Digital Transformation,” moderated by Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, by luminaries from the Belgian and European technology ecosystem noted below:

The opening panel was followed with inspiring talks by Ms. Manon Van Hoorebeke, 2014 Digital Girl of the Year, and Ms. Christine Gerpheide, Senior Cloud Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services. Over the course of the afternoon, Ms. Sandrine Droubaix — DJ Sand — and Ms. Valentina Càla, DLI Digital Creative Officer, led hands-on digital music composition workshops for participants of the Digital Muse After School program and BeCentral’s Open Door Day .

DLI Update – March 2017

March is always a busy month at the Digital Leadership Institute.  This year was no exception.  On International Women’s Day 2017, we had the special privilege of visiting European Commissioner for Justice, Ms. Vera Jourova with a group of young girls active in STEM areas.  The girls shared with Commission Jourova about their vision, challenges and hopes for a future with girls leading in STEM, or what we call “ESTEAM” sectors.  You can find out about the visit here, about our other activities in March 2017 below, future activities in which we are involved, and visit our calendar for upcoming events organised by DLI.

*entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics


logo_Women4Tech27 February-1 March – Women4Tech Summit at Mobile World Congress (Barcelona): In collaboration with the European Commission, the Digital Leadership Institute led a mission to the 2017 Women4Tech Summit and 4YFN startup event which took place as part of Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, moderated a 28 February panel on Reducing the Gender Gap in the Startup Ecosystem at the Women4Tech Summit, and both Ms.Miller and DLI received honours as finalists for the 2017 Mobile Global Awards in the Mobile Industry Leadership category.


european parliament 7-8 March – European Parliament International Women’s Day Media Conference on Economic Empowerment for Women (Brussels): In celebration of International Women’s Day 2017, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, moderated a 2-day conference for media hosted by the European Parliament on the topic of Women’s Economic Empowerment in Europe.


(LeftAligned)InternationalWomensDay_RGB8 March – Amazon Web Services Celebration of International Women’s Day 2017 (Dublin, Ireland): On 8 March in Dublin, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, gave a lightening talk on the subject of “Be Bold for Change” at the Amazon Web Services European headquarters in Dublin, in celebration of International Women’s Day 2017.


13-17 March – Semaine Entreprendre (Brussels): On 14 March, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, contributed as “godmother” to an event promoting women-led entrepreneurship as part of a week of activities by EFP, the largest entrepreneurship education institution in Brussels.  On 15 March, Ms. Miller also provided a keynote for the week’s flagship conference on the topic of “digital transformation and entrepreneurship.”


8 March – DLI “Girls in STEM” Visit with Justice Commissioner Jourova (Brussels)In celebration of International Women’s Day 2017, DLI led a “girls in STEM” visit with European Commissioner for Justice, Ms. Vera Jourova, and hosted a mission of young girls including Ms. Manon Van Hoorebeke, 2014 European Digital Girl of the Year.


22 March – GSMA Mobile Meeting Series Breakfast (Brussels): On 22 March, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, and Ms. Maria Alfonso, DLI Development Manager, joined a GSMA Mobile Meeting series breakfast on “Fostering women inclusion in the tech sector” at the GSMA Europe headquarters in Brussels.


23 March – AmCham (Brussels) Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, joined a 23 March gathering hosted by the American Chamber to the European Union on the subject of “Women and Entrepreneurship: Fueling social change through economic growth“.


28 March – Entreprendre 2017 (Brussels): On 28 March, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Cofounder, joined Ms. Loubna Azghoud, leader of the Brussels Women in Business Platform, to host a workshop and networking lunch on women-led entrepreneurship, entitled “They did it, so why can’t you?“, as part of 2017 Entreprendre/Ondernemen, the largest annual entrepreneurship event in Brussels.


Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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