Danobatgroup steps up the commitment to female scientific talent

• The industrial group took part in the Ada Byron Awards ceremony for Women Technologists 2023, awarded by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto, which took place this morning in Madrid.

• The Director of Innovation of the machine tool manufacturer, Nerea Aranguren, presented the Ada Byron Youth Award as a member of the jury of the awards.

• Danobatgroup is also one of the sponsors of the awards in the framework of its strategy to boost female STEM science vocations.

Danobatgroup strengthens its commitment to promote female scientific talent at the presentation of the Ada Byron Awards for Women in Technology, which this year recognised the work of María José Escalona Cuaresma, PhD in computer engineering and specialist in software engineering, in the senior category, and of Sara García Alonso, cancer researcher and the first woman in Spain to be selected as a reserve astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps, in the youth category.

The ceremony for the tenth edition of the awards, given annually by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto, was held this morning in Madrid. On an institutional level, the event was attended by Teresa Riesgo, secretary of the Ministry of Science and Innovation; Teresa Laespada, deputy for Employment, Social Cohesion and Equality of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and Asier Perallos, dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto. In addition, the event was also attended by three women who won the Ada Byron Award in earlier editions: Asunción Gómez (2015), new member of the Real Academia de la Lengua, the Academy for Spanish Language, Concepción Monje (2019), and Laura Lechuga (2020), National Research Award.

The award ceremony, which aims to promote female vocations in the field of research and technological development, was also attended by Nerea Aranguren, Director of Innovation at Danobatgroup, who was a former member of the jury for the awards. She also presented this year´s Ada Byron award in the youth category to Sara García Alonso.

The industrial group is one of the sponsors of the awards together with entities and companies such as Microsoft, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Red Hat and Emakunde-Basque Women´s Institute. Innobasque is also collaborating in the event.

Improving human health

The Ada Byron Awards for Women in Technology 2023 recognised the work of Sara García Alonso from León, a senior researcher at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and PhD cum laude in Cancer Molecular Biology and Translational Medicine at the Cancer Research Centre. During her career, she has made great progress in the study of lung cancer and her work has had a major impact on the development of therapies to treat this disease.

María José Escalona Cuaresma, from Seville, received the Ada Byron senior award today for her studies in the field of software requirements engineering and, in particular, in people-centred software, which seeks to generate innovative solutions based on empathy with users. Professor at the University of Seville, she is attached to the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at the same university. Important landmarks in her career path are her involvement with the socio-economic fabric, the implementation of several projects with companies, the filing of a patent and a large number of operating software records.

This year, the jury received and evaluated 166 nominations, the highest number in its history. The main award is endowed with 3,000 euros and the youth award with 1,000 euros. Created in 2014, the Ada Byron Award is already present in a total of six countries and the University of Deusto hopes to extend it to other countries in Europe and Latin America, and, in the long term, to award an international prize. In addition, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto is also working to extend this award to Brazil.

Danobatgroup´s participation in the Ada Byron awards is part of its strategic management of talent, which has as its backbone the empowerment of its professionals and support for initiatives that seek to make visible the contribution of women in science, promoting STEM vocations, such as these awards. The purpose of all this is to maintain the sustainability of the industrial sector, to enhance the competitiveness of the productive fabric, as well as to boost innovation.