The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women, joined forces with several global industry leaders, academic institutions, and NGOs, to launch the Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC) on 14 September. Launched in New York City, the purpose of this partnership will be to promote awareness of the innovations meant to help women through advocacy and research, and to identify and find key actions to the industry-specific barriers that women and girls face in entrepreneurship and technology.

Among the 22 partners, prominent names include technology companies and business corporations such as Facebook, Sony, HP Inc., JPMorgan Chase, and Pax World Management. Academic institutions such as the NY Academy of Sciences and MIT Solve have also partnered with GICC, along with organizations like Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, and Ellevate Network. These organizations will be working together with UN Women to promote gender equality in technology and entrepreneurship.

According to UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the GICC and similar partnerships can “bring together the best of academic brain power and research, industry practical know-how, and civil society’s drive and reach to creatively disrupt the status quo”. It is the aim of the GICC to boost the potential and opportunity for gender equality through technology and innovation by means of a “public-private partnership”.