Commission rewards women innovators

The European Commission has announced the winners of the 2014 EU Prize for Women Innovators. They are Saskia Biskup, first prize winner from Germany; Laura van ‘t Veer, second prize winner from the Netherlands; and Ana Maiques, third prize winner from Spain.

Biskup co-founded CeGaT GmbH in 2009, van ‘t Veer is co-founder and chief research officer at Agendia NV, and Maiques is the chief executive officer and founder of Starlab. The competition celebrates women who have combined their scientific excellence with a head for business to set up innovative enterprises. It is open to women who have benefited from EU research and innovation programmes. The three winners will receive their prizes from European Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the opening ceremony of the Innovation Convention 2014, taking place in Brussels on 10 and 11 March.

Barroso said: “I want to congratulate these three outstanding scientists and entrepreneurs on their achievements. Their work is advancing knowledge and making a contribution to economic growth and to quality of life in Europe. Just as importantly, they are a great example to women everywhere of the exciting options open to them.”

The three winners were selected by an independent panel of experts from a total of 67 applications. The contest follows the success of a pilot edition in 2011 and is worth €100,000 for first prize, €50,000 for second and €25,000 for third.

Adding her thoughts, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “Despite some advances in recent years, women in research and entrepreneurship remain a minority. This is a waste of talent that we cannot afford. We have to foster gender equality and also raise the profile of successful women innovators. This prize does exactly that.”

Although the proportion of female researchers in Europe is increasing, the under-representation of women in scientific disciplines and careers still persists. According to the ‘She Figures’ report published by the Commission, women represent only 33% of European researchers, 20% of full professors and 15.5% of heads of institutions in the higher education sector. Similarly, on average women make up 30% of EU entrepreneurs, but often face greater difficulties than men in starting up businesses and in accessing finance and training.