Barcelona has been, for a few days, the headquarters of the world’s only Ocean Decade Collaborative Center (DCC) focused on the blue economy. Within this designation by UNESCO, the first edition of the female entrepreneurship and leadership program aboard a sailboat was held at the Fundación Barcelona Capital Náutica, which will host ten entrepreneurs, executives, or managers of projects linked primarily to advanced technologies and the blue economy. ‘Lagertha Project’ designed by the blue project accelerator A Bordo Lab is an initiative that aims to reduce the gender gap in the ICT field and promote women’s leadership in the triple-impact blue economy: environmental, economic, and social.
“Currently, only 20.1% of the ICT business fabric in Catalonia are female executives and nearly 50% leave the technology sector before the age of 35,” stated Sandra Ruiz, director general of economy and digital society of the Generalitat de Catalunya. For her part, the CEO of A Bordo Lab and head of the project, Patricia González, thanked the support from public entities and collaborating companies. “The need is real and there is capacity for investment and there is demand from people such as these ten women who want to start their own project. I believe Lagertha Project is a great opportunity but many more must come,” she indicated.
The first edition of Lagertha Project has been designed to provide an initially local but globally replicable and scalable response. This initiative will last five weeks – from September 15 to October 15 – and will bring together ten women in a hybrid learning program that combines online business and impact investment mentoring. “It is an immersive experience on land and sea that seeks the profound transformation of the entrepreneurs and their projects with the goal of achieving a triple impact: environmental, economic, and social,” acknowledged Patricia González.
