Robyn launches a new technology festival for teenage girls

"Tekla is a festival for girls in which they get to sample different areas of future technology in what I believe will be a fun and imaginative environment," says pop star Robyn, who has partnered with Sweden’s leading technical university, KTH, to host a one-day festival of workshops and speakers to inspire young-girls to pursue a career in technology.

"I thought of KTH's motto 'Science and Art', and wanted to do something to inspire girls who are curious about technology, while at the same time highlighting that too few women are applying to KTH programs." Tekla opens its doors in Stockholm on April 18 for workshops on programming, robotics, 3D printing, game development, electronic music, motivational talks and performances by Robyn and other artists, as well as technology firms like Google and Spotify.

Protein spoke about the shifting attitudes towards women in tech at this years SXSW Interactive. Tekla is one of many initiatives lately to shine light on male-dominated industries; only one third of new students at KTH are women and it’s estimated that less than 10% of the engineering workforce in the UK is female.

In the latest gender-themed issue of Protein Journal we discuss the importance of role models to inspire change and it’s hard to think of a better example of the idea put into practice; it looks like Robyn is about to kick start a revolution.