EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR WOMEN AND TECHNOLOGY (ECWT) FORENING

Their core work

ECWT is a Norway-based European association focused on advancing women's participation in technology, entrepreneurship, and the energy transition. They operate as a network enabler — connecting women entrepreneurs with support ecosystems, building capacity for access to finance, and accelerating female-led involvement in renewable energy markets. Their practical work spans running hub networks for women web entrepreneurs, designing capacity-building programmes for SME financing, and supporting gender-inclusive market uptake of renewable heating and cooling technologies.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ECWT began in 2015 with a purely digital focus — supporting women web entrepreneurs and building startup ecosystem hubs across Europe (WeHubs). By 2018-2020, they broadened into SME finance capacity-building (ALTFInator) and then made a significant pivot into the energy sector, specifically renewable heating and cooling market uptake with a strong gender lens (W4RES). The trajectory shows a clear shift from digital entrepreneurship support toward gender-inclusive energy transition, while maintaining their core identity as a network and capacity-building organization.

ECWT is moving from digital-only gender inclusion toward the energy transition, positioning themselves as a go-to partner for projects needing gender expertise in clean energy and climate action.

How they like to work

ECWT always participates as a partner, never as a coordinator — they contribute specialized gender and capacity-building expertise rather than leading technical work. With 30 unique partners across 18 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in broad, diverse European consortia. This suggests they are a trusted network node that brings reach and inclusivity expertise to large collaborative efforts.

Despite only three projects, ECWT has built a remarkably wide network of 30 partners across 18 countries, reflecting their role as a pan-European association. Their geographic footprint spans most of the EU, with no visible concentration in any single region.

What sets them apart

ECWT occupies a rare niche: they are one of very few European organizations that combine gender expertise with sector-specific knowledge in energy and digital innovation. For consortium builders, they solve a concrete problem — many Horizon Europe calls now require gender dimensions and societal engagement plans, and ECWT brings both the methodology and the pan-European women's network to deliver on those requirements credibly.

Highlights from their portfolio

• W4RES
  Their largest project (EUR 194K) and a clear signal of their strategic pivot — combining gender expertise with renewable energy market uptake, a highly fundable combination under Horizon Europe.
• WeHubs
  Their founding H2020 project that established ECWT's identity as a European network builder for women in digital entrepreneurship.