Girls, express yourself via code

EIT Digital Master School student Dora Palfi brings coding to smartphone to get girls into tech.
An article about Dora Palfi, the co-founder and CEO of imagiLabs

Woman in tech
Stimulating woman to get into technology is Palfi’s purpose, driven by her desire for equality. “Technology, especially digital technology, is shaping the future. Half of the population is female, yet women today are underrepresented in tech. They do not have an equal chance to shape the future, to contribute to where the world is going to. We need a diverse population in technology to build a better future.”

Entrepreneurial drive
In 2016, during her first year of her EIT Digital Master School programme Human Computer Interaction & Design at the KTH in Sweden, her entrepreneurial drive was kindled when she discovered she could actually act upon her heartfelt purpose. “Before this school, I had no plan to start a company. As an engineer, it is hard to grasp the practicalities of entrepreneurship. Thanks to the entrepreneurship classes, I found the courage to think that maybe I could do something with my passion. In my studies, I learned how that could work.”

An idea is born
That insight came during a research project at the EIT Digital Master school. Knowing that there is a lack of woman studying technology, only 17 percent of engineering students are female she says, Palfi began to think about how to go about changing the ratio of woman in tech. Palfi found in research from among others Google & Gallup that boys and girls have a similar interest in technology up until the age of twelve. After that, girls tend to lose their interest. What does interest girls are three things: self-expression, being part of a community and the love for smartphones. With this in mind, she built a clay and paper prototype of a telephone case for teenage girls. work.”