Tech by women: all around us

Today is International Women's Day. A day to reflect on the resilience and solidarity of women worldwide. And I can tell you: in recent years, in my roles as editor and editor-in-chief, I have spoken to many of those women.

See: it is possible!

Female-led scale-ups are still a small minority in the Netherlands, only 8%. But today, I don't want to talk about that at all. I want to show how it can be done.

Take Carmen van Vilsteren, for example. At the end of last year, she was named Female Tech Hero 2025, and IO+ was there. For decades, Carmen has been bridging the gap between “wires, code, and steel” and human impact. My colleague Bart Brouwers wrote about it: “Van Vilsteren was rightly in the spotlight. She is seen as the ‘Architect of Impact’ in the Dutch MedTech ecosystem.”

When I spoke to her myself a few weeks ago about the coalition agreement, she called the goal that female entrepreneurs should raise as much funding as men by 2030 “insanely ambitious.” The road is long, but we're going for it.

Or: Eline van Beest, CEO of Hybridize Therapeutics. During her keynote speech at LEVEL UP, where IO+ was also present, she said something we won't soon forget: “Masculinity tends toward strength, ambition, and drive. Femininity is characterized by caring, equality, cooperation, calmness, and listening. This isn't about men and women, although women generally have more feminine traits. But the best leaders and the best teams combine both.”

And these are just two examples. Over the past few years, I have spoken to countless other inspiring women: researchers, members of student teams, founders of start-ups. Women who show that change is possible. And, not unimportantly, we have published all kinds of articles about financing opportunities and other types of support for female founders.

Centuries of impact

At IO+, we focus primarily on the tech heroines of the here and now. But it is important to realize that women worldwide have been making an impact in the tech world for centuries. Think of Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first algorithm in the 19th century and is considered the world's first programmer. Or Grace Hopper, who pioneered computer programming in the 1950s and laid the foundation for modern programming languages. And let's not forget Hedy Lamarr, who during World War II collaborated on technology that later led to WiFi and Bluetooth. They show that innovation and perseverance know no gender.

We will continue to write about it

In the coming years, we at IO+ will continue to write enthusiastically about women who are making a difference in the world of tech and innovation. Not because we favor women, but because they bring unique qualities that enrich the field.

Here's to a beautiful balance between masculinity and femininity.