PWA’s May Speaker Meeting featured Digital Strategist Sara Rosso’s presentation of “Create, Collaborate, Communicate – Tools for Entrepreneurs and Consultants,” (Read the event details here)

In response to requests from both those that attended and those that missed out, Sara has kindly provided her slide presentation that you can view here. Included are links for her preferred tools (both proprietary and open source). On her website When I Have Time she writes about all kinds of technology in an accessible way that doesn’t intimidate the “non-techies”.

All professional women welcome whether members or guests

PWA, in collaboration with Korn Ferry International, presents a panel discussion: “Women in Technology – Making a Difference: How to Increase the Number of Women in Leading Positions”

A look at who occupies management positions in technology companies around the world shows a heavy bias towards men, and an even more dramatic disparity in numbers between male and female executives can be found in Italy. Why is this the case? What can be done to increase women in leadership positions?  For those who have managed to reach the upper levels, how did they get there?  What should companies and individuals be doing to bring more women into corporate leadership roles?

PWA President Monica Pesce, will moderate a discussion designed to help us understand how women have achieved success so far, what we can be doing to increase opportunities and what benefits female leadership will bring to the technology sector and world economy as a whole.

The panel will share their experiences and perspectives gained from working at different companies internationally to help us to find ways to increase opportunities for women seeking leadership roles.

Panel Members
Pietro Scott Jovane – CEO, Microsoft Italia
Barbara Poggiali – CEO and Managing Director Dada (Division of RCS Group)
Tatiana Rizzante – CEO, Reply

Cocktails 7-8 p.m. / Presentation 8-9.30 p.m.
Grand Hotel et de Milan. Via Manzoni 29, (MM Montenapoleone)
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Free for members, €20 for guests, payable by cash at the event.

Advance registration is required for all guests in the calendar section of www.EuropeanPWN.net

 Members, please register your attendance in the calendar section of  EPWN

For additional information, please contact speakers@pwa-milan.org

Technovisionaria: A woman capable of generating innovation and “inventing the future” creating technologies.

 The IT sector is one of those areas under-represented by women.  Historically it was perceived as a male industry, but with the constant evolution of technology many companies are seeing the benefit of women’s natural talent with regards to the appliance of technology in industry.  After all, what good is technology if it cannot be used. 

 That is why I decided to write this article regarding the success of a young woman who had an innovative idea regarding communication between robots and humans which eventually captured the interest of NASA.  I had the honour of participating to the presentation of her project which she is currently elaborating at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo.  The project regards “Cross-domain collaboration on the web”, thus analysing conversation between people and machines when collaborating on the web with the scope of defining new technology that provides for the users needs when for example conducting meetings. 

 The story is not only amazing for the fact that a woman managed to gain such a prestigious recognition in the IT field, by the way she was one of the three finalists for “The Technovisionarie” award ideated by Didael with the conference for Women and Technologies in Milan, but also for the fact that she managed this against all kinds of adversities.  This is a story of one woman’s determination to realise her dream.

 This extraordinary woman goes by the name of Nik Nailah Binti Abdullah.  Raised in a Muslim middle class family in Kuala Lumpur, Nailah left her country to study in Europe.   She won a Bourse from the Malaysian government to study a doctorate (PhD) in Computer Science in Montepellier, France, where the lessons were conducted in French, a language she is not familiar with.  With a good translator, she managed not only to carry out her studies but she continues to collaborate with the university and also is a researcher in Tokyo.

 The clear message to all is that with strong determination we can achieve our dreams.

For all the PWA techies, you can learn more about her project following the link below.

http://sites.google.com/site/niknailah/

Hema Mali