D3COD1NG THE FUTURE OF WOMEN

When I arrived at the D3cod1ng the Future of Women conference, I was greeted by a packed room filled with women in dark, silvery and glittering outfits. The dress code for this year’s conference was futuristic and cosmic, which was further emphasised by the large canvassed walls throughout the space which depicted space and other galactic images.?

This was the second year that the conference (created by FemTech Lab ), took place. Many said the audience this year had roughly doubled in size? – a promising sign for a sector that too often is labelled ‘niche’ despite affecting more than half the world’s population.?

This point, the ‘niche-ness’ of the sector, came up multiple times during the conference including when an audience member heckled one of the speakers during one of the panel sessions, claiming there is already enough funding for female health. In an environment where healthcare funding is under pressure, frustrations at perceived unfairness are bound to arise. The theme was once again brought up by Ida Tin who delivered a keynote on ‘The Beginnings and Future of FemTech’ on the second day.?

Feeding into this was an insight gleaned from the session on ‘Optimising Female Aging with Ovarian Longevity and BioTech’ where one of my key takeaways was that the name ‘female reproductive organ’ is misleading as women nowadays are only pregnant a few times in their lifetime and that women’s ovaries for instance impact them from birth to death, way beyond their actual ‘reproductive years’ and that in naming them based on their perceived primary function, distracts from the many other functions they fulfil throughout a woman’s lifetime.?

Beyond the frustrations of the funding environment for FemTech and misnamed body organs, there was also a lot of joy and positivity. I caught up with Janine Swarbrick, a Patent Director at HGF Limited – one of Europe’s largest firms of intellectual property specialists – who expertly chaired a panel on ‘Scientific Breakthroughs in female biology and novel opportunities in therapeutics’ and chatted with me afterwards.?

Janine shared that she felt the conference was a safe space with a feeling of understanding of the challenges and experiences facing women that did not need to be explained or defended to anyone. I echoed this impression, which I think was aided by the fact that the audience was over two thirds women. It’s rare to have this type of gender balance, especially compared to other life science or tech conferences,and so the entire experience felt different from the first moment. Another positive that other attendees shared with me was that it was easy to network and everyone felt quite comfortable and approachable.?

It sometimes felt difficult to choose between the conference’s three event streams. Day 1 included keynotes on the future of women’s health and panels on AI in healthcare and ovarian longevity, while Day 2 shifted the focus to the future of FemTech, investment trends, wearable tech, and sustainability. The conference ended with a FemTech Dragon Pitching Show.?

Most attendees I spoke to expressed a desire to return next year, eager to continue exploring and addressing the multifaceted issues in women’s health. The Decoding the Future of Women Conference 2024 not only highlighted existing challenges, but also paved the way for innovative solutions and collaborations that will shape the future of women’s health. I look forward to returning next year and seeing what new and exciting opportunities are being created in this space.

Congratulations to Katia Lang Slater , Karina Vazirova and Caroline Deliakis for a great event and Janine Swarbrick rick for sharing her impressions and insights with me for this article.?