Zurich – This year, for the first time, the Zurich Social Entrepreneurship Initiative & Foundation (SEIF) is also awarding a prize for impact-oriented women at the Tech for Impact Awards. It aims to give more visibility to women entrepreneurs in the sustainable tech industry.
SEIF is establishing an award category specifically for women entrepreneurs for the first time this year as part of the Tech for Impact Awards. According to the initiative and foundation, it has announced the Women in Tech for Impact Award for this purpose.
This prize is awarded together with the UBS Award for Responsible Innovation and the Julius Baer Award for Future Impact Trend. Both major banks are partners in this award ceremony. Each of the three winning teams will receive 10,000 Swiss francs as well as non-financial support.
With this new award for women entrepreneurs, SEIF aims to “contribute to a more diverse startup ecosystem by giving more visibility to women entrepreneurs who are making a positive impact on the economy. And our Tech for Impact Awards are the perfect opportunity to do that.”
This is SEIF’s response to figures from the Swiss Startup Radar 2021-2022, which show that the proportion of startups led by a female CEO is around 10 percent worldwide. Switzerland has a value slightly below this average. Moreover, according to these figures, the median total venture capital generated by startups with a male CEO is 2.7 times higher than that of startups led by a woman.
The Tech for Impact Awards seek impact-oriented entrepreneurs with innovative technology solutions that responsibly contribute to at least one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Their companies should be based in Europe and be able to operate worldwide. The dimension of positive impact should be clearly reflected in the principles of their core business. Applications can still be submitted until March 31. mm
