The writer is chairperson of Azienda Trasporti Milanesi and former chairperson of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology

Europe’s gap in tech and innovation is well known. According to McKinsey, in the five years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, large European companies were 20% less profitable, increased revenues 40% more slowly, and spent 40% less on R&D than their US counterparts. Most of the differences are in technology-creating industries, specifically ICT and pharmaceuticals. 

The continent is trying to address this issue with large investments via programmes such as Horizon Europe, and institutions like the European Institute for Innovation and Technology and the European Research Council.

Over the past 20 years, a staggering amount of research has been published on how diversity and inclusion improve performance, and innovation and research production. So, having more women in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) studies and careers would accelerate the closure of Europe’s gap. How to do that? 

In preparing this piece I came across a 2003 article from an EU-sponsored conference titled ‘Lack of women in European industrial research, but business strives to make a change’. It laments that women comprise only 15% of industrial research roles in Europe, despite an increase in female Stem graduates at that time. When I enrolled at Milan University in physics 20 years prior, women were about 20% of the course’s students. 

Things have changed. Globally, women now make up around 42% of Stem graduates, but just 27.6% of the technology workforce. Nearly 92% of software developers are men and only 17% of tech CEOs are women. We’ve managed to increase dramatically the number of women pursuing Stem studies, but not the number pursuing and thriving in a Stem career.

So, there is progress, albeit slow. The World Economic Forum forecasts it will take another 169 years to achieve gender parity across the board. The UN says 300 years. Either way, the picture is bleak. 

A 2020 study called ‘The Diversity–Innovation Paradox in Science’ looked at the uptake of similar innovative ideas put forward by men and women. The results show clearly that, in science, majorities tend to dismiss the contributions of innovative minorities, including women. This is unconscious bias in action. There are well-known experiments where bogus articles have been published simply because an eminent scientist’s name was among the lead authors. Women and minorities are discriminated against and lose out. We all lose out. 

More on Stem talent:

• The push for Stem graduates in developing countries
• Opinion | Don't assume the West will remain dominant in tech and AI
• Opinion | London's future goes beyond finance

One million more women in tech per year

To improve this, we need a two-pronged approach.

On one hand, we must continue strongly encouraging all children, particularly girls, to undertake Stem studies. This can be achieved through talks in schools, visits to companies and  shadowing opportunities. We must continue to celebrate and communicate the stories of amazing women in science, from mathematicians Ada Lovelace, Sofia Kovalevskaya and Katherine Johnson to biochemist Katalin Karikó and computer scientist Grace Hopper. 

On the other hand, we need affirmative action. Taking 168 or 300 years is too long to hope laudable bottom-up initiatives, women in tech associations, more conferences and articles will materially make a difference. Don’t get me wrong, they do help. Immensely. And we must continue to shine the spotlight. However, a short cut lies in aggressively and openly incentivising companies to actively nurture and promote diverse talent. Money talks. Targets talk. Making it compulsory for companies, public and private, to publish the number of women and minorities at all levels in the organisation, directing funds towards virtuous investors and institutions, will make a difference. There will be a trickle-down effect on women and minorities choosing to study Stem, as companies will push universities to offer, and therefore attract as students, more diverse talent. 

The world, and Europe, need more innovation, immediately, to face the threats to humanity coming from violent disregard of the environment that has characterised the past two centuries of our civilisation, overpopulation and other threats such as wars and unmanaged artificial intelligence. A back-of-the-envelope calculation based on EU research and data tells us that jobs in tech will grow threefold from 10 million to 33 million across Europe by 2035. Therefore, to reach gender parity, we need the number of women in tech to grow from 2.7 million today to 16.5 million in the next 15 years. Nearly a million more women in tech every year. 

Bottom-up encouragement to have more women in tech is critical. Top-down pressure even more so. 

Do you want more FDI stories delivered directly to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletters.