Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank, and Pilar López, President of Microsoft Spain, presented an award to the female student with the best academic reward, who received a prize of 10,000 euros.

Through the WONNOW Awards, both organisations are promoting diversity and the presence of women in the field of technology and the sciences from the start of their professional careers.

A total of 260 students from Spanish universities participated in the first edition of these awards for students enrolled in their final year of STEM courses -sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics-.

The competition is completed by an award for 10 students who will have access to paid internships to work at CaixaBank and will participate in a Microsoft mentoring programme.

Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank, and Pilar López, President of Microsoft Spain, presented an award to the female student with the best academic reward, who received a prize of 10,000 euros.
 
They also presented awards to 10 students of a paid internship to work at CaixaBank and to participate in a Microsoft mentoring programme. Through this initiative, both organisations hope to promote diversity and the presence of women in the field of technology and the sciences from the start of their professional careers.

Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank, and Pilar López, President of Microsoft Spain, presented the awards for the third edition of the WONNOW Awards, which include a cash prize of 10,000 euros to the student with the best academic record and 10 paid internships to work for six months at CaixaBank and access to a Microsoft mentoring programme.

At the awards ceremony, Gonzalo Gortázar and Pilar López recognised the hard work of the entrants and praised their commitment and dedication. STEM courses and adequate training in digital skills are essential for everyone, irrespective of gender.

A total of 348 students from 61 universities from all over Spain took part in this third edition of the competition.

Together, the organisations launch the WONNOW Awards for the fourth consecutive year, which have become established as prestigious awards in the university sector.

• Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank: "We need to promote the presence of women in the field of sciences and technology as a matter of urgency, because diversity in teams is essential in order to develop solution to current global problems."
• Pilar López, President of Microsoft Spain: "Reimagining Spain includes a strong commitment to digitalisation and education. There is an urgent demand for qualified talent with digital skills, and STEM education is a priority where there is no place for gender bias. Diversity fosters innovation and growth."

Through this initiative, both organisations reward, for the fifth consecutive year, female excellence in technical university degrees, promote diversity and help to reduce the gender gap in these sectors, where there are enormous employment opportunities and where women’s presence is low.

These awards have become established as prestigious awards in the university sector, and over the five editions held so far, more than 2,700 students have participated.

• Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank: "All the participants and winners are role models to inspire other students to break stereotypes and become interested in science and technology from a young age. It is imperative to promote female talent in all sectors, and especially in these fields where there is a low presence of women and fewer women role models."
• Alberto Granados, President of Microsoft in Spain: "There is a high demand for digital talent in Spain, but 8 out of 10 companies from all sectors have problems in recruiting employees who are trained in technology and with STEM skills to fill their vacancies. [...] We have to work on training and promoting female technical and digital talent if we want to make our economy grow in a diverse and inclusive way."

CaixaBank and Microsoft have rewarded the 16 best scientific and technical degree students in Spain through the WONNOW Awards. These awards, which this year reached their sixth edition, recognise female excellence in STEM degrees - sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics -, in order to promote diversity and help to reduce the gender gap in these sectors that have historically been male dominated.

The registration record was broken in the 2023 edition, with a total of 1,006 entries from 77 Spanish universities, a figure almost four times the 2018 number, when there were 272 participants. 3,764 students have participated since the first edition of the WONNOW Awards, making them an established benchmark in the academic field. Currently, 18 of the young women who were winners in previous editions of the WONNOW Awards continue to work in the CaixaBank Group, with two of them at Microsoft.

• Gonzalo Gortázar, Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank: "Through these awards, our aim is to help promote equal opportunities among professionals in the STEM sector and demonstrate our commitment to the development of female talent, which unfortunately has less representation in such an important field. We need more female scientists, mathematicians and engineers to ensure sustainable social development and to help close the gender gap."
• Alberto Granados, President of Microsoft in Spain: "We are facing an enormous challenge as an industry and as a country. The presence of women in university courses is 60%. However, in technical areas this changes, and drops to 30% in the case of engineering and even further in other areas such as information technology, where the presence of women is just 13%. It's necessary to create role models and continue working to ensure that there is more diverse talent to lead in groundbreaking areas such as artificial intelligence."