Meet the Europe-based winners of the Diversity in Tech Awards 2020, sponsored by Microsoft for Startups

When Web Summit, one of the biggest tech summits in the world, moved to Portugal in 2017 from Dublin, the opportunity arose for a new Dublin Tech Summit to take its place in Ireland. 

Due to COVID-19, the entire team of Dublin Tech Summit had to go virtual in order to maintain social distancing. However, the organisers have taken this opportunity to upgrade and rebrand their annual awards as the Diversity in Tech Awards.

About Diversity in Tech Awards

Previously also known as the Women in Tech awards, the Diversity in Tech Awards, which took place virtually on November 10th, 2020, has highlighted the achievements of organisations creating a more diverse workplace as well as working towards narrowing the gender gap in the technology sector.

The event, that celebrates the best in tech, has been expanded to recognise diversity in all of its forms. It includes 18 categories with an equal number for both diversity and women in tech.

The awards have been split into two category areas; Diversity in Tech and Women in Tech.

Diversity in Tech

The Diversity in Tech categories has increased from three to nine categories this year. These include awards for role models in tech, LGBTQ+ inclusion, social mobility, disability inclusion, cultural inclusion, generational inclusion, and health & wellness. Besides, an overall International Company of the Year and Special Recognition Award have also been added to the categories.

Women in Tech

The Women in Tech categories include a focus on tech leadership, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, mentorship, and data science. There will also be a special recognition award for women who have made their mark in innovation, named after pioneering US computer scientist Grace Hopper.

Hopper was one of the first programmers to work on the Harvard Mark 1, the world’s first electromechanical computer.

The first recipient of the Grace Hopper Award in 2019 was Barbara McCarthy, CTO of Ding.

Microsoft for Startups as a sponsor

Tracey Carney, MD of Dublin Tech Summit and organiser of the Diversity in Tech Awards had announced in June this year, that Microsoft for Startups would be the headline sponsor for the event. 

In addition to coming on board as headline sponsor, Microsoft for Startups will also be presenting the International Diverse Company of the Year award.

Meet the European winners

The winners of the inaugural Diversity in Tech Awards in association with Microsoft for Startups have been announced at a virtual event. Here are the winners from Europe. 

Kriti Sharma

Grace Hopper Award: Kriti is the founder of AI for Good UK & VP of product at GfK VP product, GfK (Nuremberg, Germany). GfK is a market research institute. The company connects data and science to predict the market, create consumer insights, and provide actionable recommendations based on advanced analytics to its clients.

Cubbie Sensory Hub

Disability Inclusion Award: Cubbie Sensory Hub is an Ireland based sensory management system designed for educators who wish to actively support their staff, students, and Parents. Unlike Multi-sensory rooms, the Cubbie is proactive and results-driven, providing an Occupational Therapist designed sensory experience to students with the touch of a button.

Evelyn Nomayo

International Diversity Role Model Award: Nomayo is the founder of Phase Innovate (Drogheda, Louth – Ireland). It is a not for profit organisation that provides technology entrepreneurship education for the underrepresented communities in tech through hands-on training and a structured mentoring system.

With Pride Network

LGBTQ+ Inclusion Award: Ireland-based With Pride LGBT+ Network drives representation and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and ally communities, to build empowerment, a sense of belonging, and connections between communities.

Irish Girl Guides

Mentorship Award: Ireland-based IGG has approx 12,000 youth and adult members in Ireland, with a paid staff supporting the work of volunteers in the organisation. It is a youth-driven, dynamic organisation that offers a varied and exciting programme for girls and young women aged 5-30, and opportunities for women of all ages.

Anthemis Group 

International Diverse Company Of The Year: It is a London-based venture investment platform founded on three guiding principles: authentic collaboration, virtuous cycle outcomes, and diversity, equity & inclusion.

The other winners of the Diversity in Tech Awards 2020 include: 

• Cultural Inclusion Award – Sensata Technologies (Massachusetts, the U.S.)
• Data Scientist Award – Nabanita Roy, Data Scientist at Fiserv (Wisconsin, the U.S.)
• Digital Transformation Award – Anita Kishore, Chief Strategy Officer at Think and Learn (Byju’s) (Bengaluru, India)
• Entrepreneur Award – Sindhu Joseph, CEO, and founder at CogniCor Technologies (Palo Alto, California)
• Health & Wellness Award – Wrike (San Jose, California)
• Rising Star Award – Amanda Obidike Executive Director/Founder at STEMi Makers Africa/Calal Global (Lagos, Nigeria)
• Tech Leader Award – Daisy Wu Kedi, Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Greater China Chevron (San Ramon, California)
• Trailblazer Award – Anna Radulovski, CEO & Founder at WomenTech Network (Mountain View, California)
• Young Female STEM Pioneer – Alishba Imran, Machine Learning Developer at Hanson Robotics (Hong Kong Science Park, Pak Shek Kok)
• Diversity in Tech Impact Award – Out in Tech (New York, New York)

Over 300 submissions received

Reportedly, more than 300 submissions were received from 24 countries including Australia, China, Nigeria United States of America, among others. Judges include Fig O’Reilly, Datanaut at NASA, Shinjini Das, CEO at Das Media Group, Gearoid Kearney, CEO of myAccessHub, Gary Steward, CEO & Co-Founder of The Nest, Sarah Cunningham, Vice President at Mastercard Dublin Tech Hub, among others.

The panel of expert judges consisting of 15 digital thinkers, creators, and innovators, DE&I experts, narrowed down all the submissions to the finalists which include some of the largest organisations in the world such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NASA, Oracle, BBC, Citi and EY to new and emerging organisations putting their stamp on the world including Soapbox Labs, Access Brazil, M4Jam, Uvera Inc, Pioneera and CogniCor Technologies Ltd.

Image credit: Diversity in Tech