Creating history each year by recognising exceptional local ICT innovations and achievements, the National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) competition will mark its 13th anniversary in October this year. NBQSA is the only national competition of its type in Sri Lanka which has been, since 1998, granting opportunities to individuals and organisations for their outstanding contribution to the development of the ICT Industry in Sri Lanka. It has provided a unique platform of opportunity to display and benchmark local ICT talents to the business industry and the world. Over the years the event itself has grown in recognition and prestige, both locally and internationally.

In a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs and higher education titled "Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation" the major conclusions are that there are fewer women than men in STEM jobs and attaining degrees in STEM fields. But interestingly, that’s true despite the fact that the wage premium for women in STEM jobs is higher than that for men and that there’s greater income parity between genders in STEM fields than there is in the employment market as a whole. Read full report

This years First Lego League competition for young people between 10 and 16 years of agewas organized in Oslo Region the 13 November at Kunnskapsbyen Lillestrøm. The annnual event was a great success for Åsenhagen School in Skedsmo as they won three first awards: Geek Power, won the first prize in Research and Technology; The robot competion's winner was the group Die Acht Madchen, seven girls of the age of 12 years and the first prize for Collaboration went to the group Researchers of the Future. The Scandinavian Final will be organized the 4th of December!

Seven striking portraits of women of outstanding achievement in science, engineering and technology will be on display at the British Science Festival, which this year is being held in Bradford, 10 - 15 September 2011.

As part of its commitment to encouraging more women to work within the IT industry, FDM Group will be holding a “Women in IT Advantage Session” on 17th August at its London Bridge office, in collaboration with Women in Technology and the UKRC. The free event will give female graduates the opportunity to learn more about the different career options and support available to them, should they wish to pursue a career in the field.

The ECREA Women’s Network works to assess the actual situation of gender in European communication research, within universities, polytechnics, colleges, and research centres. The Women’s Network III International Workshop: Sharing Experiences intends to approach issues of gender in communication related academia under an inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural perspective, in order to grant visibility to women from every social background, age, ethnicity, and orientation.

EuropaBio has launched its "Most Innovative European Biotech SME Award 2011" following the great success of last year edition. more info

This symposium looks at the dynamic role of expertise in our society. How should we understand the notion of expertise? What operates as credible expertise, and when? Is scientific expertise overrated, and are other forms of expertise too easily dismissed? Or is it precisely the other way around? And what, if anything, does this mean for communicating science and technology?

Zen Digital is a new Belgian National Point of Contact of the ECWT. Zen Digital is a consultancy in ICT and sustainability, also addressing gender and environmental issues, and works to promote digital and social media to achieve the goals of the European Knowledge Society.

A poll of 11.000 employees by Friends Life shows that more than half of women believe that there will still be a significant gender pay gap by the year 2020 and they also think they will still be struggling to get senior roles by this date. One of the main barriers facing women at work was the cost of childcare. One-quarter of working women with young children said that they spend more than 25 per cent of their salary on childcare.