Scotland’s Innovation Centre for data and AI, The Data Lab, has joined forces with The Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate, ScotlandIS, Scottish Digital Academy and key companies in Scotland’s technology ecosystem, including Sopra Steria and Head Resourcing, to become the latest Partner of the “Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation” initiative.
The cross-sector programme, launched earlier in the year, has already supported one group of emerging female digital leaders, and is preparing for the start of a second cohort to run throughout the Autumn.
Developed and delivered by leadership coaching experts Empowering-You, the initiative has been designed to create a sustainable community of empowered and empowering female digital leaders, in a bid to tackle the long-standing gender gap in the technology sector. All places on the programme are free of charge to participants, who are selected from a national open applications call by a panel of experts including Karen Meechan, Interim-CEO at ScotlandIS, The Scottish Government’s Head of Digital Transformation, Joy Bramfitt-Wanless, and Roz Britton, Talent Attraction & Capability Lead for the Digital Profession at The Scottish Government, alongside representatives from each of the industry partners, including The Data Lab’s own CEO, Gillian Docherty OBE.
Commenting on The Data Lab’s decision to support the “Empowering…” programme, Ms Docherty said, “The Data Lab is delighted to be supporting ‘Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation’ for the first time this year. The programme aligns brilliantly with our work to inspire more women to participate in data driven innovation through initiatives such as Data Skills for Work and Women in Data Science (in partnership with CodeClan and Equate).
“Technology underpins our business and society, and it is critically important that as an industry we achieve a better gender balance – and broader diversity overall. The opportunities are diverse and the chance to work using tech for good or to make a difference to society and to the economy is significant.”
The Programme Panel met this week to review applications and decide on the final make-up of the Autumn cohort, with an announcement due to be made soon after.
For more details on the “Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation” initiative, please visit the website.