Digital Leadership Institute
DLI About
The Digital Leadership Institute is a Brussels-based, international NGO and a recognised world leader in promoting greater participation of girls and women in strategic, innovative ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship & Arts powered by STEM) sectors, through four areas of activity:
Education and Skills Development: Providing young and career-age women leadership, business, personal- and professional-development and ESTEAM skills through direct access to experts and tools that encourage them toward entrepreneurship and leadership in ESTEAM studies and careers.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support: Cultivating an environment for generating the seeds of future enterprise in cutting edge ESTEAM fields for girls and women. Delivering digital, business and leadership expertise, tools, and access for girls and women to bring new discoveries and business seeds to market.
Advocacy and Awareness Building: Promoting grassroots initiatives to create interest in and to provide skills to girls and women in ESTEAM, coupled with top-down advocacy to create conditions for increasing their participation and to foster female entrepreneurship and leadership in ESTEAM sectors.
Research and Consultancy: Increasing knowledge, fostering better understanding of the challenges, and promoting and implementing solutions to address the under-representation of girls and women in ESTEAM sectors and leadership. Engaging in research actions and consulting services for individuals and organisations looking to benefit from our knowledge and expertise.
DLI Initiatives
The Digital Leadership Institute has a unique mission to promote inclusive digital transformation by increasing participation of girls and women in ESTEAM* studies, careers and leadership around the world. The following are DLI-led initiatives in these areas:
Ada Awards – Global awards recognising outstanding girls and women in digital studies and careers and the people and organisations supporting them, with the Ada Award Ceremony annual flagship event held in a different country each edition.
inQube – Global network supported by open-source best practices promoting women-led, digitally-driven and digitally-enabled enterprises, with flagship “Move It Forward” female digital starter events carried out in dozens of cities around the world on topics disproportionately impacting girls and women.
Digital Brusselles – Europe’s first female tech incubator, organized with support from the Digital Belgium Skills Fund, in Brussels, Belgium, the heart of inclusive digital transformation.
Digital Muse – European network promoting ESTEAM* skills to girls through creative endeavor, in order to increase the quantity and quality of stories by, for and about girls and women in digital media, with flagship initiative “Girl Tech Fest.”
CyPro – Cyber professional training and career placement program for women with work experience, focused on increasing the number of women IT professionals in strategic fields including cybersecurity, cloud computing, data science, artificial intelligence, etc.
*entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics
DLI Projects
The Digital Leadership Institute regularly engages in public sector projects with partners from across Europe and around the world. The following are projects and campaigns in which DLI is or has been involved since 2012.
- ATHENA – The ATHENA project (“Approaches To valorise the High ENtrepreneuriAl potential of migrant women”) has received a grant from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to support women of migrant backgrounds across Europe to take up entrepreneurship, 2021-2023.
- WE4Change – The WE4Change project (“Girls and Women connecting for environmental change”) has received Erasmus+ funding to increase entrepreneurship in STEM fields by girls and women through climate change activism, 2021-2023.
- Move It Forward+ – European ERASMUS+ project to deploy a pan-European platform, toolkit and series of digital startup skills events that support women-led entrepreneurship across Europe, 2020-2022.
- Research & Innovation Peers Project – European Commission HORIZON2020 project implementing Gender Equality Plans in European research institutes, for the European Commission, 2017-2023.
- Women Power Code – European Commission ERASMUS project promoting best practices to increase uptake of digital skills among women across Europe, for DG Grow, 2016-2019.
- Digital Belgium Skills Fund – Belgium public-sector project promoting digital skills to girls and women to promote social inclusion and decrease radicalisation, 2017.
- Coding for Young People – European Commission ERASMUS project promoting best practices to increase uptake of digital skills among young people across Europe, for DG Grow, 2015-2016.
- Eskills for Girls and Women – Report on promoting global best practices to increase digital skills among young and adult women, for the United Nations ITU Broadband Commission Gender Working Group, 2015.
- Every Girl Digital – European Commission campaign promoting women role models in technology to increase uptake of digital studies and careers by young women, for DG Connect, 2014; and campaign promoting greater participation of women in digital studies and careers for European Parliament consultation, for DG Connect, 2013.
- Science: It’s a Girl Thing – European Commission campaign promoting uptake of science studies and careers by young women, for DG Research & Innovation, 2012.
- Women Role Models in the Digital Age – European Commission public consultation on women role models in digital media, for DG Connect, 2012.
- City2020 Study – European Commission project on driving a digital transition to the low-carbon city and engaging citizens to promote sustainable cities, for DG Connect, 2012.
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Katja Legisa
Managing Director at DLI
