There is a definitely a magic feeling when more than 5,000 people come together in one place: the 27-29 September 2010 at Brussels Expo.

The flagship biannual ICT event of the European Commission 'ICT 2010 : Digitally Driven ' was opened  by EU Vice- President, Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, EU Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan -Quinn , the Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and the head of Agfa- Gevaert , Christian Reinaudo .

The European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT) had for the first time an own stand presenting ‘eGEN – Women on Board in ICT, Technology and Innovation’ – showing the work of the ECWT: excellence and the added value of the gender dimension in robotics, information management, nanotechnology as realized by prominent members of the ECWT:  SAP; Institute for Information Management in Engineering - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),  VISENSO GmbH Stuttgart, Scuola di Robotica, Italy;  Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics (CEG), European Commission DG INFSO, European Schoolnet, PROMIS@Service, Luxembourg, TéT Foundation, Hungary; Alinari 24 ORE.Italy; dimeb – TZI Technical University of Bremen and Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Stuttgart, Germany.

The ECWT booth was a great success:

Silvana Koch - Mehrin, the Vice President of the European Parliament and a group of EU-Parliamentarians visited the ECWT stand

A constant flow of visitors asked for demonstration of the Cyberclass 3D and the work of Scuola di Robotica. Here the a group of students and  Kristy Lundström, Head of the Scandinavian School in Brussels visiting the ECWT stand

Broad multi-stakeholder representation at the ECWT networking session

On the 28th of September 16: 00 -17:30 ECWT organized also a networking session for a fully crowded audience room penetrating deeper on the subject of the added value of the gender dimension of ICT, Technology and Innovation with experiences shared by:

• Dr. Rosalie Zobel, Chair of the High-level Advisory Committee of the ECWT and former Director of Components and Systems, DG INFSO, European Commission
• Nancy Pascall, Gender Diversity Expert, DG INFSO, Directorate C: Lisbon Strategy and Policies for the Information Society, C 1 Lisbon Strategy and i2010,  DG INFSO, European Commission
• Henrike Paetz, Communication Director SAP Research
• Dr. Mary Lynn Realff, Associate Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
• Professor Dr. Jivka Ovtcharova, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,  Information Management Institution
• Fiorella Operto, Director Scuola di Robotica, Italy

Thank you to all of you who contributed to the success of ECWT at ICT 2010!
The process towards gender-mainstreaming ICT, technology and innovation has now started - Welcome to engage and make your voice heard in the preparations for the EU Parliamentary hearing in 2011!