[{"jcr:title":"Women in Action Award recognizes women who promote innovation and social impact","cq:tags_0":"centro-de-conhecimento:hub-de-inova--o-e-empreendedorismo-paulo-cunha","cq:tags_1":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper"},{"richText":"Insper event featured 81 enrolled projects and marked the evolution of the Women in Tech program, which focuses on female leadership","authorDate":"05/05/2025 13h47","author":"Michele Loureiro","madeBy":"Por","tag":"centro-de-conhecimento:hub-de-inova--o-e-empreendedorismo-paulo-cunha","title":"Women in Action Award recognizes women who promote innovation and social impact","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"themeName":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"To recognize and celebrate women who inspire and pave the way, Insper held the first edition of the Women in Action Award, an initiative of the Women in Tech program. A total of 81 projects were submitted from 13 Brazilian states, led by women who promote innovation, social impact, and female leadership. During the award ceremony, held in April at the school's headquarters in São Paulo, the best works were evaluated by 53 judges in three categories: Technological Innovation, Social Innovation, and Women in Tech.   The central idea was to highlight projects that use technology innovatively to solve problems, promoting significant advances in their areas of expertise, along with mapping initiatives that generate positive changes in society by addressing critical social issues and generating community welfare. The last category was dedicated to Insper students involved in Women in Tech projects, highlighting female participation in technology and engineering fields. The prizes ranged from R$ 5,000 to R$ 20,000.   Eleven projects were finalists, and the ideas were briefly presented to the audience. In the Social Innovation category, which had five finalist cases, Giovanna Machado was awarded for the Future Scientists Program. Aimed at girls and teachers from public schools to encourage entry into STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), the program has national contours and aims to democratize access to knowledge and stimulate interest among female students in predominantly male areas. "I am a daughter of a public school, and being able to bring girls and teachers closer to the dream of being a scientist is gratifying. I started with 15 girls, and today there are 470 distributed across the country," said the awardee. Of all project participants, 70% enroll in universities, most of them public institutions. Additionally, 87% choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to pursue careers. "My dream is that with this support from Insper, the program becomes a public policy," affirmed Giovanna.   In the Technological Innovation category, which also had five finalists, Estefânia Vangelie Ramos Campos, founder of the startup NanoGrow, was awarded for creating an encapsulation technology to enhance biostimulants and increase agricultural productivity. "There is still a lot of male protagonism in this area, but I wanted to change that and make an impact. I founded the startup in 2022, with two partners, and today we use nanotechnology to reduce the impact of agrochemicals and increase food production," said Estefânia.   Insper student Camila Junqueira de Almeida Ferreira Lopes was the winner of the Women in Tech category with the project Hubot, a robot that assists in various tasks and interacts with visitors at the Paulo Cunha Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub at Insper. "In addition to automating processes, this project can help attract more visitors to the school and, consequently, draw more attention from companies and provide greater visibility to innovation," said Camila.     New moment: Women in Action   The award ceremony concluded with an invitation to a cocktail party where guests interacted and networked. For Tania Haddad, who assumed the presidency of the Board of Counsellors at Insper in 2024—the first woman to occupy this position—the award is an important step in bringing together people willing to be agents of transformation and marks a new moment for the Women in Tech program, initiated three years ago at the institution.   "The project was born out of a concern to address the issue of low female presence in Insper's engineering programs. Initially, there were discussion groups, meetings, connections, and events, but we realized that if these efforts weren't made transversely, the results wouldn’t appear as desired in the agenda," explained Tania. Therefore, in 2024, an advisory committee was implemented, composed of people from different areas of the school who discuss actions monthly to expand female presence. "That’s when we created Women in Action, a new era that gathers the needs of all areas of Insper."   Tania reported that the advances in recent years were significant and that currently 60% of management school positions are held by women, along with other female leadership and the existence of the Gender Studies team, which contributes insights to the development of public and business policies to help transform other realities. "There is still a long way to go, but the program's evolution, embracing more areas, will aid in this advancement," she said.   Carolina Fouad, who’s the coordinator of Insper's Women in Action program, highlighted that the initiative works to facilitate access to career development opportunities, increase female participation in technology courses, promote mentorship for women, and boost the visibility of inspiring names. "Since 2021, over 1,500 women have already connected with our network and participated in our activities," said Carolina.   For Priscila Claro, Dean of Undergraduate Education at Insper, one of the significant challenges is reducing inequalities overall. "The problem goes beyond technology fields. In Undergraduate Education, for instance, 60% of students are men, and there is a need to attract and retain women to our school. Therefore, this project expansion will work to change this reality," stated Priscila."}]