CaixaBank and Microsoft Ibérica have launched a new competition call to reward the best STEM students (the field of sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Spain through the WONNOW Awards. These awards are aimed at female students from 80 Spanish universities who have passed 180 credits in technical university degree courses.
The Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar, has stated that the objective of the WONNOW Awards is to "support highly talented women who are starting their professional career, to encourage them to choose the professions of the future."
Gonzalo Gortázar emphasised that "we need to urgently promote the presence of women in the fields of science and technology if we want innovation to be truly disruptive and foster a search for new points of view and responses to current global challenges". "Something that we will only achieve -added Gortázar- if we work with teams with a high degree of diversity."
For the President of Microsoft Spain, Pilar López, "it’s time to reimagine Spain, through digitalisation, and to do that, companies need to take on qualified talent with digital skills. We have to work on training and promoting female technical talent. The WONNOW Awards are a good example of this. It’s an initiative that aims to promote female presence in the technology sector, to achieve inclusive digitalisation. We are committed to helping to reduce the existing gap and add as many women as possible to a sector that will be key to Spain’s recovery."
In Spain, LinkedIn forecasts the creation of two million jobs in the next five years in the technology sector. And not only in the technology sector, because all sectors now need digitalisation. According to data from the United Nations (UN), fewer than 30% of scientific researchers are women. In Spain, in university degrees and master’s degrees there are few women enrolled on courses related to engineering, industry and construction (28.5%) or in information technology (12.9%), according to the latest publication by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Equality in Figures, 2020.
To reduce this gender gap and in order to promote female presence in technological and scientific fields and raise awareness about the need to have digital skills to be successful in the labour market, both organisations have launched these awards for the fourth consecutive year, which have become established as prestigious awards in the university sector. Over the three editions held so far, more than 1,000 students have participated from universities all over Spain.
Recognition of talent
The 2021 WONNOW Awards will give 10,000 euros to the student with the best academic record in a technical university degree course at one of the 80 Spanish universities participating in this competition. In addition, another 10 students will have access to paid internships to work at CaixaBank and all of them will participate in a mentoring programme with Microsoft Ibérica.
To enter, it is necessary for students to have passed the first 180 credits of a STEM university degree and continue to be enrolled and studying said degree or master’s degree as a continuation of their studies. Those interested can enter on the www.wonnowawards.com website until 13th June 2021, by completing a form that includes questions about their achievements and general profile. Both academic records and personal, professional and social achievements are assessed. Students must also attach their curriculum, a motivation letter or video and their average mark for the first 180 credits passed.
