We refer to the research “ European girls in STEM”, which is the very first complete study at the European level. Commissioned by Microsoft to the professor Martin W. Bauer of the department of Psychological and Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics (LSE), and involved 12 countries (Belgium, Finland France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia, Slovakia) and 11.500 girls between 11 and 30 years old.  This research identifies the exact moment in which these girl students lose interest in the study of technical scientific materials, preferring the humanities. The data highlight that the moment of “no” arrives in different ways in different European countries. In Germany at 19, 23 and 29 years. More stable in Czech Republic, after the negative peak at 15 years, the interest continue to grow until 28 years. In Russia it decreases to 17 years and 22 years. In Italy, the girls interested in the technical-scientific materials are at 11 years old and in particular in mathematics, informatics and biology, that put Italy in the European average. This interest for the science and technology, however, starts to decrease towards 17 years to the point that 1 girl on 10 applies to the University to a technical faculty, only the 6,4% works in the ICT and the 13,3% in the engineering sector despite the encouragement of the families and the teachers.

Naturally, the presence of role models of women in science of high tech will demonstrate that it is possible to overcome those barriers. Examples of role models from MCAA and ITWIIN will be highlighted from both research and entrepreneurship, as well as the Role Models portal developed in the framework of HUMBOLDT ALUMNI www.therolemodels.net , which provides access to Role Models ebooks of MCAA and the Role Models database for mentoring young women scientists and future generations.