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FEMTECH: THE POWER OF FEMALE-DRIVEN INNOVATION
Although women are the superconsumers of the 21st century and make 80% of purchase decisions, barely 1% of R&D investments specifically target this group. This leaves companies untapped a huge market ranging from technology and sporting goods to medical care and financial products. How did it come to this? And what needs to be done to turn the tide? That was the theme of the third edition of 'Women Entrepreneurs in Tech' on 8 May 2025 in Leuven.
Female business leaders remain scarce in Belgium. Only 1 in 5 entrepreneurs is a woman. In tech companies, barely 17% of leadership positions are held by women. This distortion was at the heart of the first 'Women Entrepreneurs in Tech' event in 2022, an initiative of KU Leuven - Group T Campus and the Brussels-based organisation Womenpreneur-Initiative.
Since then, every year top women from tech companies and the research world come to Leuven to share their insights and experiences with each other and with the audience. The third edition also featured Eléonore Simonet, Minister of Small Business, the SelfEmployed and SMEs. She came to confirm her support for entrepreneurship by women, especially in the technology sector where women are still severely underrepresented.
Drop-off
In her keynote 'Womenomics & STEMinism: a Mighty Twin for Europe', Françoise Chombar, Chairwoman of microelectronics company Melexis, spoke about the causes of gender inequalities in tech professions.
According to her, these are not biologically determined but cultural. "Boys and girls score equally well in STEM subjects. But culture, prejudice and stereotyping play a negative role. The biggest drop-off of girls and young women occurs at the end of secondary education and when entering the labour market. This is a consequence of learned behaviour and a lack of role models. You can't be what you can't see.”
Our companies best put gender balance and inclusion high on their strategic agenda, Françoise Chombar believes. Because in a world of rapid change, every talent counts. Want to really understand the customer? Then, mirror your organisation against the diverse society. If you do not take your customers seriously, you will miss opportunities to maximise your market share.
Moreover, as leaders and entrepreneurs, women score better than men in many areas. "Soon it is no longer useful - and will soon be harmful - to insert that women adapt to the existing roles and rules of the game. Tomorrow's female money and talent will go to the companies adapted to their needs, styles and motivations", Françoise Chombar concluded.
Female investment
Kristel Vanderlinden, founder of FutureKind and Belgium's first FemTech futurist, has set out to convince entrepreneurs to develop women-centric products and services. She too notes that women have to fight hard to break through in tech. "For example, as a woman, you only have a 20% chance of your patent application being approved. As a man, it is 80%.
The male committees that make the decisions cannot sufficiently empathise with the female lifestyle. Moreover, only 1% of all venture capital goes to companies led by a woman. And this despite the fact that start-ups run by women have been proven to generate up to 30% higher returns than their male equivalents."
Nevertheless, the futurist predicts change is coming soon. "By 2030, for the first time, women have equal economic power because they will control half of global wealth. This Great Wealth Transfer makes women's potential immense. It already shows that innovation tailored to women generates 40% to 70% more return on investment than gender-neutral or male-only products or services." Examples of FemTech innovations, according to Kristel Vanderlinden, include sports shoes and bicycle saddles adapted to the female anatomy, hormonal-driven food supplements, an app for menstrual and pregnancy care and smart rings that collect female data.
Leadership
During the panel debate, leading women entrepreneurs talked further about female-driven innovation. Inge Neven, CEO of VITO, emphasised the role research institutes play in creating inclusive innovation. As an example, she mentioned the development of a digital twin of the human body, related to medicine intake, reaction to exposure of certain products, performance in stress situations, where male and female characteristics are included.
According to Natalie Dewulf, general manager at Equans, women still have to make more efforts than men to prove their credibility. This also applies to female entrepreneurs or managers, by the way. "People tend to think you are in a leading position because of your gender and not because of your ideas and leadership."
Axelle Moortgat, the young CEO of NOX Energies, said women tend to be more cautious. That would explain their higher success rate. "Women are more caring and will think a lot before they take money. And if they do, they are full in and put the business as number one and care less about their ego."
Dewi Van de Vyver, CEO of Effax, was also of the opinion that female characteristics will ultimately play in her favour. "Women are supposed to be more open to caring, cooperation and change. Male often see it as being too soft. These traits offer just the opportunity to lead the way towards a sustainable future."
- Yves Persoons
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Women Engineers' Mentoring Programme launches 2nd edition
In April last year, Group T Campus was the first to launch a mentoring programme for female engineering students. 22 third-year students were paired with as many successful female graduates who inspired and guided them towards a future in engineering and technology for a full year. On 24 April 2025, the first edition was festively concluded and a new batch of mentees and mentors joined the programme.
The concept of the first edition remains. Over the course of one year, mentees and mentors will meet at least four times. In addition, three meetings are planned on campus covering topics such as career planning, self-knowledge and talent development. There will also be dedicated moments for mentors to share their experiences and learn from each other. "Not only the mentees should benefit, we also want the mentors to gain something from the experience and find satisfaction in guiding and advising their mentee," says programme coordinator Sofie Craps. "Mentorship is only truly successfull when it goes both ways”.
Read the full report here:
https://iiw.kuleuven.be/nieuws-en-agenda/ nieuws/2nd-women-engineers-in-tech
