Original article by Joakim Persson, Managing Editor ScandAsia • August 31, 2017
One of the many highly interesting events taking place at Singapore Innovation Week’s official program is Women in Tech Conference (Asia). The event, which is held in association with SWITCH (Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology), was launched in 2016 and will now be taken to the next level.
The Women in Tech Asia (WiT) conference, taking place on 20 September at Marina Bay Sands Expo, brings together Asia’s leading female innovators to celebrate women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is open for anyone to attend.
From the programme Jenni Risku, WiT Founder, highlights a couple of inspirational figures who are the doers and makers within tech: Reshmi Rajendran, Nuclear Scientist & Director of Health and Life Sciences for Budding Innovations; and Bidushi Bhattacharya, ex-NASA Rocket Scientist & CEO/Founder of Astropreneurs HUB – SEA’s 1st space technology incubator.
“I feel it is a responsibility for us at WiT to pave the way to showcase these role models. Especially for those studying in Stem [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] or in the early stages of their careers, we want to showcase examples on stage that have made it and that you can also relate to. We need more female Steve Jobs and Bill Gates speakers out there so that – already when you are in school – you can get these kinds of role models and get to see the career paths that one actually has, because eventually this is where the world is going – towards tech!” says Jenni.
And males are by no means excluded. “We had 30 per cent men attending last year and we hope it will be 40 per cent this year. We also have a lot of speakers who are men. We don’t want to build silos for men and women, I think it’s more about creating an option for women in tech to meet other women in tech – that has proven globally to help them in their career to push through – as well looking to offer a lot of mentorship and focused content on site.”