Armenian FEMINNO Conference on Women and Innovation in Sydney

Technology professionals, industry experts, academics, also growing talent and a local PM – this was the picture of of FEMINNO Sydney 2024 conference audience on the International Women’s day.

March 8 was a special celebration with a visiting conference in Sydney from Armenia. FEMINNO, which is the biggest female innovation platform in Armenia and in the whole Caucasus, successfully executed their 2nd outgoing “satellite” conference, choosing Sydney as a well established innovation hub with a powerful Armenian diaspora community. 

 

“Having had serious success in Armenia for several years, we realized that it is time to export the unique brand we have created and start bringing together the women engaged in innovation in the diaspora and foreign communities, as well as the men who support this cause,” says Seda Papoyan, the founder of FEMINNO. The first move out of Armenia was towards San Francisco in October 2023 and now to the other part of the world – Sydney.

 

FEMINNO conference in Sydney was supported by Salesforce which provided their newly opened Tower space with terrific views as conference venue and helped to organize this gathering of local Armenian technology leaders, as well as non-Armenians. The speaker lineup featured prominent experts like the VP of Salesforce Sassoon Grigorian, NAB executive Linda Minassian, Global Goodwill Ambassador of SmartAID Alethea Gold OAM, UBS executive Leon Hagopian, deputy director of UNSW Data Science Hub Fatemeh Vafaee PhD, one of AWS leaders Agnes Panosian, CEO of Saasyan Sidney Minassian and others.

 

“It was an honor to host FEMINNO conference at Salesforce Sydney Tower for their satellite event on the international women’s day! It was a day of inspiration covering career development, AI, diversity, and I covered how you can be a voice in your company/organization showcasing our employee group ArmeniaForce”, – noted Sasson Grigorian.

 

Established in Armenia, FemInno leads the development of female talent in STEM, as well as runs the main FEMINNO conference in the capital Yerevan every year on the last week-end of July. FemInno 2024 is planned for 27-28 July with a topic of “GenAI in Action: Big Data, Big Impact”. 

 

“This was a great platform to celebrate trailblazer women in Business, Science, and Technology, whilst inspiring careers for Armenian women to pursue in this space. I was humbled to share the stage with all the inspiring speakers who shared their stories while imparting invaluable wisdom and practical advice on navigating the often challenging terrain of a STEM career, in particular as a woman”, says Saro Mimassian, another speaker from Salesforce leadership.  

 

The Sydney conference was supported also by the local Armenian Professional Network of ANC-AU and a cybersecurity startup from Armenia with a global reach – Humanize Inc. Currently the FEMINNO team started a new global membership program – both for individuals and companies, to be able to stimulate mentorship, partnership and engagement opportunities in better and more concrete ways.  

 

“Powerful talks, fun networking and the best views in Sydney!” mentioned one of the participants – PhD Armella Zadoorian.

 

Flavored with Armenian music, cultural food and wine, FEMINNO conference also hosted a local MP – the Federal Member for Bennelong and Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Tech and Innovation Jerome Laxale. He had a special address for the conference including the picture of high tech developments in the region and his views on promoting women in the industry.