Young Girls Are Taking The Gender Gap Down To Build The Inclusive Tech World of Tomorrow

Last year, for the first time, Cisco Spain joined the Technovation Girls program, aiming to change the landscape of innovation and education for young girls around the world. The partnership was launched thanks to the Spanish Cisco WOC Community (Women of Cisco), Jessica Paez Bonilla and Karina Farina’s leadership, Spain Country Manager Andreu Vilamitjana’s support, and the amazing sponsorship from Mayte Marquez, CX EMEA Talent and Apprentice Incubator.

It’s proven to be a great success but demonstrates there is still a lot to do to ensure we have a future that is equal for all. Today, we want to celebrate this outstanding journey where young female students and Cisco mentors made a difference. Let’s start from the beginning.

What is Technovation?

Technovation is a non profit organization dedicated to empowering young girls to become tech leaders through innovative programs combined with technology, entrepreneurship, and mentorship. The program is dedicated to young girls between 8 and 18 years old, who, under the guidance of mentors, will have 12 weeks of assignments in which to create a project from scratch that effectively addresses an existing problem in our society. The competition takes place on a global level, and the top 15 projects compete in a final pitch from San Francisco.

Technology plays a fundamental role in defining practical solutions that bring improvement to the situations the girls are addressing and Cisco, as a global leader in networking and technology solutions, had always been committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in the tech sector. That’s why we jumped without hesitations in this adventure, and we decided to accept the challenge and to engage young girls from Spain elementary and middle schools and Cisco Spain employees as mentors.

So, in October 2022, we started to structure the project and we did a call to action to engage both Cisco employees and their daughters as well as public entities. We eventually had 9 amazing teams with a total of 40 girls and 22 mentors, that were ready to start this fantastic journey. We want to highlight that the call to action was also addressed to Extremadura public schools, a region where there is a lack of resources and infrastructures to help them and give an opportunity to students without access to technologies.

What is the purpose of the partnership with Cisco?

Cisco’s purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All aligns perfectly with Technovation’s mission, and together we set out to create a program that motivates and equips the next generation of female tech leaders. The partnership began with a shared vision: to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry by providing girls with the skills, resources, and mentorship needed to thrive in the digital age. We also held an event in Madrid last year, where our CX colleague and sponsor for this project, Mayte Marquez, inspired all the attendees with an outstanding talk and where the girls had the opportunity to share their projects and get first feedback from their mentors. A fantastic job from all involved!

During the 12 weeks assignments, Cisco employees as mentors encouraged the young girls to develop solutions to real-world problems using technology. They provided participants with Cisco’s know-how, expertise, and mentorship. The girls brought their creativity, curiosity, and passion. Together, they tackled issues and worked on bringing their ideas to life. From innovative software that can help people with visual disabilities navigate their environments safely, to an app that helps people reduce their water waste to protect the environment, to solutions related to healthcare, equal rights, gender gap, and other critical topics.

With the dedicated support of our sponsors, the CX team and Mayte, we created an amazing experience not only for the girls, that had the chance to immerse themselves in a new world, but also for our employees that through their mentorship went beyond technical skills and educated the girls focusing on building confidence, leadership, and a sense of belonging in a male-dominated tech industry.

Going one step further

Given the project’s great success, today we want to announce that we will launch another call to action opening the challenge to more schools and engaging new people, new talents, and new colleagues to join the program.

This year, alongside CX, we’ll have the support from the Cisco’s CDA (Cisco Digital Acceleration) Program, that aims to build sustainable, secure, and inclusive communities with the collaboration of governments and public sector. So far, more than 50 countries have been involved and more 1300 projects have been created.

Pretty exciting, right?

The partnership between Cisco and Technovation is a shining example of how corporate leaders and non-profit organizations can join forces to create positive change. We want this partnership to succeed and grow, leaving an indelible mark on the future of technology and the lives of countless young girls around the globe.

Let’s help young girls to follow their dreams, starting from tech.