Mani Thiru flew into Singapore a few months ago and was sent straight into the island city-state’s Covid-19 circuit breaker, where she isolated for the next month. 
She has taken on the role of Business Lead in the Aerospace & Satellite Solutions team at Amazon Web Services for that region — a position she is ‘really stoked’ about. “I’ve been wanting to look after a regional business for a while,” she tells me. “Space is science, technology, research, innovation, economics, and even politics. The more collaboration we have between countries with their different strengths and unique differentiators, the faster we will evolve in this sector to benefit of many.”
Earlier this year, Thiru took out the WALA Award for Emerging Leader in the Private Sector — where she flipped the lid in her acceptance speech. “When the judges had me on the panel I thought I stuffed it up,” she said. “I’m going to act like a man today and just wing it. They do it and it works. It’s about time we got some of that. They stand here and say, I deserve this. So, I deserve this.”
Continue reading: https://womensagenda.com.au/leadership/advice/always-seeking-always-finding-mani-thiru-on-how-to-succeed-in-the-tech-sector/

The progress made to improve equality in the workplace over the past decades has been encouraging. However, these six amazing women in tech are demanding more – especially when it comes to women in STEM.
And it all starts from the roots. Equal opportunities, apt resources and funding, and support for women in STEM will help breed the next future generation of inspirational women in tech.
As a young female leader in the workplace, I feel the keys to helping more women feel empowered is when it’s set as a standard from the top. 
When you employ leaders whose actions demonstrate good values, especially equality, empathy, integrity and wit, you’re setting a standard for those on their way up. 
It’s inspirational to see the progress of equality in the workplace, but I feel we need to move past this conversation and let our actions continue to demonstrate the change. 
Regardless of gender, when an organization has good role models and provides adequate resources or funding for education and pathways to support progression, especially in STEM, you’re helping set up future generations for success and creating a standard for what empowered leaders should be like.
Continue reading: https://womenlovetech.com/women-in-stem-2/

These in-demand employees are looking for purpose in their work and to work in places that are a hive of activity inspired by a kaleidoscope of different backgrounds and viewpoints.
We spoke to business leaders from Aggreko, Scottish Women in Tech and MBN Solutions about the key factors people within senior hiring positions should consider when driving forward a recruitment strategy focused around diversity and inclusion.
Joined by The Data Lab, these directors and executives came together for a recent panel to discuss diversity and inclusion in the Scottish workforce.
On the panel, Samantha Bedford, chair of Scotland Women in Technology and a transformation leader in tech and digital, said:
“I’m not convinced, for example, that people really get the benefits of diversity and inclusion. While it’s good they know it’s important, I think a number of businesses still see it as a box ticking exercise. It’s often passive in that the response is often things like ‘I need training’ but I would say ‘no, you need to go out and seek this’. There are a number of great consultants who can help.”
CEO of MBN Solutions, Michael Young, said: “Many things have changed in the world since 2020 and, for data and technology talent, these changes mean that their skills are in higher demand than ever and they have greater flexibility, opportunity and negotiating positions than they’ve seen before.
Continue reading: https://www.scotsman.com/business/ten-ways-companies-can-build-a-diverse-and-inclusive-workforce-3357422

Cypher is an organization that teaches children aged 5-14 to learn the critical skills of coding through applying creative themes both in-person and online. I recently met Elizabeth Tweedale, founder and CEO of Cypher to learn more on how she and her team are helping children build the ability to think creatively, communicate effectively and build the confidence needed to be successful in the future - something all business leaders can learn from! 
Without a doubt, it’s been a difficult year for everyone due to the impact of COVID, including parents who have had to juggle jobs and the additional challenge of homeschooling their children.
Tweedale: “As society has had to embrace remote working and the digitization required to make those changes, so have children. Not only has the pandemic given young children the chance to increase their abilities, skills and familiarity with tech, there has also been a significant change in mindset from parents towards education and tech - skills like navigating folder structures, diary management and typing that may have challenged children before have now become second nature.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/drgeraintevans/2021/08/24/cypher--what-inspiring-young-stem-students-can-teach-future-marketing-leaders/?sh=49294edc7e05

Why is ‘Women in Technology' an important issue for you and your company? 
After spending more than 20 years in this industry, I have been part of many teams where I have been the only woman, and I want to work in an industry that is more representative of the world around me. The technology industry is exciting and engaging - it's where I feel at home, and other women should feel at home too. 
I also believe people are what help drive the success of a company. At N-able, we are at an exciting time in our journey because people throughout our company are recognizing and actively participating in continuing to make N-able a diverse and inclusive place to work. There is also evidence diverse companies see a positive impact on the bottom line, so this is important on all fronts - from both a people and business perspective. 
How do you think we can get more women into technology? 
Normalize the tech industry and encourage girls and young women to embark in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers. We should be breaking down barriers that have been created. We should encourage those who may be interested in these fields, and help girls and women see a scenario where they can pursue a STEM career.  
Continue reading: https://www.computing.co.uk/sponsored/4036156/industry-blog-women-tech-cara-barron-able

When Elon Musk decided he wanted to send the first rocket to Mars, he went rocket shopping. That’s when he found out the price of a rocket was astronomical, yet materials only accounted for 2-3% of the cost. So, he decided to build his own rocket and SpaceX was born. The end result is a company that will soon provide connectivity to every person on earth, something we wrote about in our piece on The Global Impact of Cheap Satellites and Launches.
Elon Musk employs what’s called “first principles thinking” which is not just a great phrase to use when someone asks you a question in a meeting and you’re hard up for a clever response. We can describe first principles by citing cryptic stuff Aristotle said, or we can sum it up simply in a single sentence as James Clear did – “the best solution is not where everyone is already looking.”
So, when a man who embodies first principles thinking decides to acquire what someone else thought up, you know it’s something special. Today, we’re going to take a look at a company called Swarm Technologies that was recently acquired by SpaceX.
Continue reading: https://www.nanalyze.com/2021/08/spacex-internet-of-things/

Researchers have developed a microprocessor built on high-performance plastic rather than silicon—and they say it could enable smarter food labels and supply chain management.
Christopher Intagliata: Microchips are everywhere: they’re in our computers and smartphones, of course, but also TVs, thermostats, fridges, washing machines, cars. That ever growing constellation of devices embedded with computer brains and Internet connectivity is known as the “Internet of Things.”
Lots of other stuff, though, like a carton of milk, doesn’t have a microchip or smart sensor—not to say that it couldn’t.
John Biggs: For example, imagine smart labels on food products that could alter their use-by date, depending on how they've been handled.
Intagliata: John Biggs is a distinguished engineer at the semiconductor company Arm. He and a team of researchers have now developed a proof-of-concept flexible chip that could be used for applications like outfitting a milk jug with computer smarts. And they say the chip is 12 times more complex than previous attempts. They describe it in a recent issue of the journal Nature. [John Biggs et al., A natively flexible 32-bit Arm microprocessor]
Continue reading: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/flexible-microprocessor-could-enable-an-internet-of-everything/

Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market In-depth Research Report 2021, Forecast to 2026 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market risk side analysis, highlighting opportunities and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. The report provides information on market trends and development, growth drivers, technologies, and the changing investment structure of the Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Infosys, Tibbo Systems, Gizmosupport, Software AG, IBM, Paragyte Technologies, Carriots, Suntec, Zerone Consulting, Cabot Technology, Vodafone, Allerin Technologies, Ranosys Technologies, SAP, Mindbowser, Concirrus, Ewave Mobile, Cisco, Mulesoft, Accenture, Hitachi Vantara, Oracle, Colan Infotech, Capgemini & Microsoft.
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market Overview:
The study provides comprehensive outlook vital to keep market knowledge up to date segmented by Cyber Security, Customer Relationship Management, Logistics, Product management and planning & Marketing, , Real-Time Streaming Analytics, Security, Data Management & Remote Monitoring and 18+ countries across the globe along with insights on emerging & major players. If you want to analyze different companies involved in the Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking industry according to your targeted objective or geography we offer customization according to requirements.
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market: Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2026
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking research study defines market size of various segments & countries by historical years and forecast the values for next 6 years. The report is assembled to comprise qualitative and quantitative elements of Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking industry including: market share, market size (value and volume 2015-2020, and forecast to 2026) that admires each country concerned in the competitive marketplace. Further, the study also caters and provides in-depth statistics about the crucial elements of Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking which includes drivers & restraining factors that helps estimate future growth outlook of the market.
Continue reading: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/270848662/internet-of-things-in-banking-market-next-big-thing--major-giants-sap-mindbowser-concirrus

Qualcomm Technologies unveiled the world’s first AI- and 5G-enabled drone last week, the Qualcomm Flight RB5 5G Platform, whose far-reaching capabilities include transforming the way we view sports. Drones are permeating several areas of the industry, most notably in broadcasting but also with designs on aiding tactics, sanitation, security and maybe even officiating.
Qualcomm technology has powered NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars as well as the Drone Racing League’s first 5G drone, which operated on T-Mobile’s network and flew over Iowa cornfields in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s Field of Dreams game last week.
Qualcomm’s GM of autonomous robotics, drones and intelligent machines, Dev Singh, recently spoke with SportTechie about the current and future use cases of drones in sports.
“AI is everywhere now: Everybody talks about AI, and AI is touching everybody's life,” Singh says. “But we firmly believe that the combination of AI and 5G is the bigger value. This whole capability of making power-efficient AI on the device—rather than on the cloud—is very important.”
The real benefit is the distributed intelligence platform, he adds. “Now you have a very smart drone that has kickass AI on the drone itself, but then you have 5G connectivity to the cloud for real-time inferencing with low latency when it comes to making a decision right in the moment—to follow a person or a follow a car for a photography use case or other other coverage use case. The drone is able to make its own decision because it has local AI, but at the same time, it has this 5G connectivity to the cloud, which gives it real time, more compute capability or intelligence.”
Continue reading: https://www.sporttechie.com/qualcomms-5g-ai-drones-are-changing-how-we-view-sports

UPS has begun using Matternet drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to a hospital in North Carolina.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical center is believed to be the first in the country to receive COVID-19 vaccine deliveries by drone.
Reduce waste
This new initiative — operated by UPS and its subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward — expands Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s existing drone program, which was launched in July 2020. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50% of vaccines are wasted globally every year, largely due to temperature control failure, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in a statement.
When transporting the COVID-19 vaccines, the Matternet M2 drone is outfitted with a special cargo box that contains Cold Chain Technologies’ customized PCM Gel solution, a temperature-sensitive packaging mixture that maintains the COVID-19 vaccine at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/24/ups-uses-matternet-drones-to-deliver-covid-19-vaccines/

Starting around 2014, a steady flow of journalists and IT professionals were proclaiming that blockchain technology had officially come of age and would soon change the way we work and live. The revolution never happened, but these predictions didn’t stop, leaving some to wonder what blockchain was actually good for or if the whole thing had just been hype. Today, the average citizen still can’t define the term blockchain, let alone mention a blockchain-powered application besides Bitcoin, but things are starting to change.
The blockchain ecosystem seems to have reached critical mass and is poised to start affecting real people in the real world, just not in the way that many expected. We were promised mind-blowing consumer apps and other cool blockchain toys, but so far it’s just been about cryptocurrencies and the recent NFT craze. I believe there are two reasons for this: 1) Blockchain is surprisingly hard to explain to non-technical people, and 2) it’s a whole lot of work to build useful blockchain-enabled apps.
It’s rare that a technology is so hard to explain that it affects its adoption, but after 10 years of blockchain hype, the average non-technical CEO remains hard-pressed to explain what blockchain really is. Understanding blockchain means learning some new concepts around cryptography, algorithms and networking. Blockchains run on the server side, so there’s nothing to see, touch or share, meaning it has to be explained on the whiteboard. With blockchain being such a highly complex and abstract technology, it’s no surprise that non-technical business leaders are slow to jump on the bandwagon. Revolutionary as it may be, the CEO of a large corporation won’t invest in something they don’t understand — and neither will venture capitalists, small businesses or governments.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/08/24/blockchain-thrives-on-big-money-and-big-ideas/?sh=1c876cf27fa3

Will your employer pay you in their own crypto-assets one day? That's what has just happened to Lionel Messi. On 12 August, Paris Saint Germain announced that he will receive some of his salary in the cryptocurrency $PSG fan tokens.
This anecdote illustrates the exponential development of blockchain technology, on which cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets, such as tokens, are based. 
The current exploratory phase is crucial for the future of finance and its digitalization, as blockchain is one of the most promising options.
The time of the first steps of bitcoin, which is also based on this technology, seems light years away. Major financial players are now getting in on the act. In July, the European Central Bank announced the launch of a digital currency project based on blockchain, following closely on the heels of its Russian and Chinese counterparts. In spring, the European Investment Bank launched its first digital bond, worth EUR 100 million, again with the help of blockchain technology.
Continue reading: https://www.lombardodier.com/contents/corporate-news/in-the-news/2021/august/what-can-we-expect-from-blockcha.html

NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang had been addressing a virtual audience during his keynote at the GTC21 event like he had done before—from his kitchen.
But this time around, the “kitchen keynote” (as it had been dubbed) got a bit sci-fi. For 14 seconds of the 1-hour-and-48-minute presentation, Huang wasn’t quite himself. Instead, a photorealistic digital clone of the CEO (and his kitchen) popped up on screen—and no one knew.
The GPU Technology Conference (GTC), which took place online this spring from April 12-16, showcases the latest in artificial intelligence, accelerated computing, intelligent networking, game development and more. So it makes sense that the company would show off its tech prowess there. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., NVIDIA designs graphics processing units for various industries, including gaming and automotive.
To create the virtual version of Huang, a full face and body scan was done to create a 3D model, then AI was trained to mimic his gestures and expressions, all via the company’s Omniverse technology, a multidisciplinary collaboration tool for creating 3D virtual spaces. “Unlike the common approach of creating a 3D digital replica of a real person where you scan and capture as much data of that person as possible, we set a very difficult goal of replicating Jensen's behavior and performance without much data of him,” explained David Wright, VP and executive creative director of NVIDIA.
Continue reading: https://www.bizbash.com/event-tech-virtual/hybrid-virtual-event-production/article/21627180/is-this-ceo-real-or-fake-how-artificial-intelligence-is-taking-over-the-event-industry

For years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned people about the dangers of AI-powered robots, even predicting “scary outcomes” like in “The Terminator.” Now, he seems to be taking matters into his own hands before humanity is overrun.
The electric vehicle company will develop a humanoid robot prototype dubbed the “Tesla Bot,” Musk announced at Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Day on Thursday. According to Musk, the prototype will be completed sometime in 2022, though the billionaire entrepreneur is known for blowing past his own publicly stated deadlines on large, flashy projects.
For example, in 2016, Musk promised full self-driving vehicles by 2018, writing on Twitter: “In ~2 years, summon should work anywhere connected by land & not blocked by borders, eg you’re in LA and the car is in NY.”
When that didn’t happen, the billionaire entrepreneur promised that Tesla would supply the roads with 1 million “Robotaxis” by 2020. Last spring, he softened his tone during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call, noting that “punctuality is not my strong suit.”
Musk has claimed that Tesla’s autonomous vehicles will hit the market shortly after they get regulatory approval across the United States. How his robot will face regulation remains unclear, but one thing is certain: Musk insists it will be amiable.
Continue reading: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/24/elon-musk-warned-of-ai-apocalypsenow-hes-building-a-tesla-robot.html

When we learn about use cases in AI, we often hear about them through the lens of the companies behind them: How they obtained cost savings, new revenue sources or greater efficiencies through implementation. We might also hear about how customers benefited from a more personalized or speedier experience. But what’s missing from these dialogues is a crucial component to AI and its future: the social good that it can (and has) done.
Shifting The Narrative Toward Inclusive AI
Marketers and communications experts in the field of AI have a responsibility when it comes to what they choose to communicate. Their words frequently shape discussions around key AI topics, and these dialogues can influence shifts in priorities for decision-makers. Highlighting the societal benefits of AI can drive conversations around how we can make AI more inclusive (as I've written about before) and can ultimately create lasting change. It’s important that AI communications professionals use their positions to keep responsible AI top of mind for AI practitioners.
Many groups of people around the world are still underrepresented in AI. As AI leaders make progress toward creating more inclusive solutions that include these individuals, communications professionals should emphasize these successes in service of not only highlighting the good that comes from AI but also encouraging companies to invest more in inclusive solutions. The more we celebrate these use cases, the more motivated AI practitioners may be to explore further applications. 
Continue reading: 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/08/24/looking-beyond-automation-and-efficiency-ai-for-social-good/?sh=54c3a60633ac

The application of Artificial Intelligence in the telecommunication industry has gained quite a much traction in the recent past and for the right reasons.
The role of the telecommunications industry in today’s world has expanded beyond the provision of simple phone and internet interaction services for individuals and corporates. In the current era of the Internet of Things (IoT), telecommunication companies have leveraged mobile and broadband services to take center stage in technological growth and innovation.
That is not all; educated prospects point to a future commercial world where Artificial intelligence is vital. For example, Technavio, a leading market research, and advisory firm globally, expects growth in technology to continue for the foreseeable future and record a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of above 42% next year. More significantly, this growth is because of the role of Artificial intelligence
Communication Service Providers constantly strive to improve customer experience by availing high-quality services to their everyday consumers. To achieve this goal, service providers have had to keep track of customers’ real-time habits, frictions, needs, and aspirations for internet services. In the process, they end up amassing large volumes of data needed for consumer insight.
Continue reading: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-main-uses-artificial-intelligence-evan-kirstel/?trk=articles_directory

There’s been quite a bit of activity recently around the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) for quality inspection procedures. Most of these applications focused on the application of AI to machine vision systems to identify defective products based. But now we’re starting to see AI more widely applied to other automation technologies—such as robots—to inspect operations as they are performed by the robot.
Higher-end robotic systems have been incorporating AI for such applications for a while, but now Dürr, a supplier of turnkey paint shops, final assembly systems, and machine and robot technologies to the automotive industry, is expanding the scope of its AI applications with analysis software from its DXQ product family. According to Dürr, this interface makes it possible to incorporate robots into existing paint shops for the first time. 
Applying analysis software for quality and plant availability applications requires the recording of relevant machine data, such as axis positions, temperatures or events like alarms, as well as the real-time start and end times of programs and uploading them to a database.
Continue reading: https://www.automationworld.com/analytics/article/21627143/artificial-intelligence-for-paint-shop-robots#previous-slide

If I talk about trending technologies, then both Artificial Intelligence (AI) vs Internet of Things (IoT) are currently at the top of the list. Whether it is IoT or AI, both are giving neck-to-neck competition; this is why nowadays businesses are inclined to embrace both technologies in software development.    

• 83% of companies have enhanced their efficiency by introducing IoT technology.

• Around 79% of executives consider adopting AI in the industry will make their work effective and more manageable.

Now the question is, what is the difference between AI and IoT. To know the same, read further
Read Blog - https://www.valuecoders.com/blog/technology-and-apps/iot-vs-ai-the-difference-between-internet-of-things-iot-and-artificial-intelligence-ai/

Historically, women have been underrepresented in technology-related disciplines, particularly cybersecurity. This begins early on, with fewer females being interested in technology at the grade-school level, which results in fewer women choosing cybersecurity as a profession in industry or academia (read more about the science, technology, engineering, and math gap in this report).
The women who do choose to work in this field typically experience greater obstacles in building a successful career compared to men, despite respected studies that have highlighted the benefits and importance of having a balanced and gender-diverse environment (see for example this research detailed in the Harvard Business Review).

As a scientist who has been in the minority throughout my education and career, I have had great opportunities to learn from very successful women in science, technology, and leadership.

Click to expand...

Because of their tremendous impact on my career, I made women's empowerment one of my career goals. Luckily, cybersecurity is my expertise, so I can put more resources into supporting women in this field.
Continue reading: https://www.itu.int/en/myitu/News/2021/08/20/12/37/Women-in-cyber-mentorship-Samaneh-Tajalizadehkhoob-ICANN

Where are the women at the table? In recent years, the agtech sector has been growing by leaps and bounds, in part driven by growing attention placed on food access during the pandemic. Case in point, 2021 is another record year for venture capital investments in agtech, according to CropLife. As of mid-2021, some $4.3 billion was invested in the sector in 263 deals compared to $5.15 billion in 2020. Anecdotally, there appear to be more women founders and leaders in what is still considered a young sector.
Within the vast landscape of agtech companies, many of them startups as defined by the stage of funding they have achieved, the gender ratio on boards remains male dominant. While to date there is no comprehensive dataset that confirms numbers, in our self-analysis we took a sample of companies in agtech curated from top searches for prominent agtech companies and examined gender ratio on boards. Our review of 16 companies with public information regarding its leadership shows that 24 percent of leadership positions are held by women and only 3.6 percent are held by women of color.
While one might assume that companies founded by women would have a healthy balance of men and women on their boards, the reality is quite the opposite. A sampling of companies profiled in my new book, From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown (in which most of the companies were founded by women), points to a dearth of women at the table. The sample was taken by going to the companies’ websites and reviewing the board members listed.
Continue reading: https://www.worth.com/more-women-at-agtech-table/

Despite still being underrepresented in tech, women are driving forward sustainability in and around the technology sector to make the world a cleaner and more efficient place.
The efforts of women throughout the field have already led to transformational results that go far beyond using Alexa to hack your sustainability efforts — though we all do what we can. By understanding how these women are integrating sustainability into technology, you too can be a better advocate for sustainability in your tech applications.
There are plenty of examples of powerful, innovative businesswomen doing their part for sustainability, but here we’ll just focus on five.
Jenine Benyus teaches tech innovation through nature.
First on our list of women dedicated to sustainable tech is Jenine Benyus. This incredible innovator is a co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, an organization that teaches the theory of biomimicry as an instrumental aspect of the design process and one that can lead to unprecedented breakthroughs in sustainability.
After all, nature understands better than any of us how to design a self-sustaining, clean system. Benyus has brought that understanding to over 250 clients, including Nike, Colgate, and Levi Strauss.
Through studying nature, we can apply new sustainability solutions in tech products and materials.
Continue reading: https://womenlovetech.com/sustainability-tech/

Kalpana Behara has over 20 years of experience working in leading tech companies like NIIT, Google, Facebook, and Uber.
Kalpana believes, over the years, the constant challenge was to grow with the industry and survive the hypergrowth of every company she worked with.
Speaking of one experience, she says, “During one of my assignments, I was assigned to train a group of senior network tech teams to move their legacy systems to opensource systems. In under five minutes of walking into the classroom, I was asked to leave as I did not fit the profile of someone who is considered experienced in the industry.”
Despite these obstacles, Kalpana worked her way to the top.
In her current role as Head – Digitisation, GSS at Uber, Kalpana manages content curation, validation, and review across all product lines.
She believes working at Uber has been a life-changing experience.
Kalpana explains: “I was strongly attracted to solve the operational problems of managing millions of entrepreneurs in the form of our driver-partners and transporting people safely. As a power user of the product myself, it gives me immense pride hearing the stories of driver-partners where the company has allowed them to earn and prosper and riders whose life has become easier and stress-free. Uber taught me to innovate at lightning speed while not losing sight of the ability of the product to build and strengthen communities.”
Continue reading: https://yourstory.com/herstory/2021/08/women-tech-digitisation-assets-uber/amp

The trend of women leaving the workforce mid-career to take on family obligations or other responsibilities is not new. However, the COVID-19 pandemic greatly exacerbated this exodus. In fact, nearly three million women left the U.S. workforce during the pandemic, as many have had to make tough choices between careers and families. 
Although we might like to think most of these women will reenter the workforce post-pandemic, the reality of highly technical fields is that qualified women may be discouraged from returning due to the perception that their skills have become obsolete. Unless we address this issue head-on, the already stubborn gender gap in technical professions like IT will only continue to widen.
While it's true that some skills never go out of date (think writing or interpersonal skills), highly technical areas of expertise like data analytics and software application development are evolving at a lightning-fast pace. Even a year off the job can make for a daunting gap to address in an interview with a potential employer.
At the same time, now more than ever, companies are challenged with both attracting and retaining technical talent. Four million people quit their jobs in April 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Continue reading: https://www.ciodive.com/news/roz-ho-women-technical-workforce-training/605430/

While the number of women taking up STEM subjects in Saudi Arabia universities is increasing, female employee numbers in the private tech sector are yet to increase proportionally, says Nicole Arian Markazi, Head of UN Women Program Lead at Nokia
Gender based inequality and discrimination is a subject of debate across the globe. Although the Gulf region has made a conscious effort to reduce the gender gap, a lot needs to be done from a social and cultural standpoint.
Governments in the region have been supporting initiatives and programs that aim to boost the number of working women in the Middle East.
To bring change in an industry like IT that has traditionally been male-dominated, we need to encourage girls to explore new career paths, implement sustainable female inclusion programs and invest in hiring more women.
Additionally, industry stakeholders must advocate for equal opportunities for women to exist and succeed in the workplace. There also needs to be more mentorship for women at school and university levels when they are trying to choose their career path.
Continue reading: https://www.itp.net/business/99576-unlocking-opportunities-for-young-women-in-technology

After studying to become a chartered accountant, roles with RBS, Aegon and Sainsbury’s Bank set me on a definite path in financial services and banking. Thinking back, Sainsbury’s Bank was the place where I felt my career and personal development really took off and this was all down to the opportunities that were presented to me during that time. I was delighted to be selected for the bank’s ‘Stepping into Leadership’ programme and I also owe a lot to the fantastic managers and mentors I had during that period. They gave me the confidence to bring my own style to the job, pushed me to try new roles and embrace any challenges that came my way.
Whilst my financial services experience underpins being the chief financial officer (CFO) of Stellar Omada, because we’re a startup there are so many other tasks that I have the opportunity to get involved in - from marketing and PR, legals, client-facing meetings and the development of our people. At a startup, it really is all hands to the pump and the fifteen months I’ve spent here has undoubtedly been the steepest learning curve of my career.
Continue reading: https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/there-are-so-many-opportunities-for-women-in-tech-sector-zoe-lee-3353659