This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
The European Union is beginning to put its promises into practice, introducing measures designed to improve career opportunities for female researchers and women founding technology companies.
Seed funding to break the ice
Raising capital is usually one of the biggest challenges for startups. Yet some grants are relatively straightforward to apply for – and hardly anyone from Poland is taking advantage of them.
Female startup founders have until January 14, 2027, to apply for the next round of Women TechEU grants, a program exclusively for women. Two further deadlines follow on April 1 and July 8. Importantly, preliminary eligibility checks are open on a rolling basis, making the period before the end of the year a good opportunity to prepare.
Each successful applicant can receive EUR 75,000. Although that may not be enough to finance every ambitious technology project, the money can be used relatively flexibly for business development. Preparing an application and subsequently accounting for the grant are also easier than many entrepreneurs might expect.
"I encourage women to apply because it's worth it. The grant application is fairly easy to prepare and, importantly, reporting on how the money is spent is straightforward. I know entrepreneurs often avoid public funding because they fear the administrative complications. But this program really is different," says Ula Sankowska, a Women TechEU grant recipient and founder of MIM Fertility, a femtech venture within MIM Solutions developing AI-powered technology for infertility diagnosis and treatment.
EUR 12 million for early-stage startups
The 2026–2028 edition of Women TechEU has a total budget of EUR 12 million, enough to support 160 early-stage deep-tech companies led by women.
The grant itself is only part of the package. Recipients also gain access to a six-month business development program, mentoring, and connections with investors and corporations.
The funding offers considerable flexibility.
"I used the grant to address real business needs, primarily marketing and travel to find partners and international experts for our Medical Advisory Board," says Sankowska. In a medtech company, such a board is a permanent advisory body comprising independent experts, physicians, and scientists.
The EUR 75,000 grant is intended to help young companies refine their technology and business models before seeking substantially larger investments. These may include funding instruments offered by the European Innovation Council, such as the EIC Accelerator, where support can reach millions of euros.
Poland has an additional opportunity
The new 2026–2028 Women TechEU program introduces an important change for Polish applicants.
In each funding round, 40% of the budget is reserved for companies from countries with weaker research and innovation performance, covered by the EU's Widening mechanism. Poland is among them.
This means Polish startups compete with companies from 14 other eligible countries for this portion of the funding, potentially improving their chances of securing a grant.
"The new Women TechEU edition has room for 160 female entrepreneurs from across Europe. The first deadline for full applications has already passed, and there are still 120 places available that Polish startups can compete for. Polish women have enormous potential, but we are seeing almost no applications from Poland," says Ilona Peszko-Biskupska, vice president of the Polka XXI Foundation, which joined the international consortium implementing Women TechEU for 2026–2028 this year.
Interest in the grants has been increasing year by year. During the 2024–2026 edition, formally completed in May 2026, the program received 3,792 applications from 43 eligible countries. Just 160 companies secured funding, representing only 4.2% of applicants.
Only six startups from Poland benefited. The small number of Polish recipients may reflect not only intense competition but also limited awareness of the program.
"Awareness of the program is very low, and our job is to change that," says Peszko-Biskupska.
After November 13, the results of the first round of the application process, launched in September, are expected to become available. We will then find out whether any Polish startups are among the successful applicants.
Six women-led startups from Poland
The six pioneering ventures that helped establish a Polish presence in Women TechEU deserve a closer look.
In the completed 2024–2026 edition, three startups registered in Poland received funding: H+H Labs with its HYDRATICO project, Katarzyna Koba's RoboKoba, and Elwira Komoń-Janczara's SeaSoil Biopolymers.
Earlier, the program's pilot phase supported companies including Microbic, founded by Professor Zofia Stępniewska, and Enzybiotx, founded by Dr. Izabela Sabała. MIM Solutions, associated with Urszula Sankowska, also received funding in a subsequent edition.
Some beneficiaries illustrate how international the startup ecosystem has become. Kateryna Ryabiko, co-founder of H+H Labs, is Ukrainian but operates her business from Poland.
Similarly, Polish women running businesses abroad have secured grants, including Zuzanna Stamirowska's Pathway in France, Alicja Dzięcioł's SilviBio in the United Kingdom, and Kinga Matuła's QurieGen in the Netherlands.
Women-led startups follow a different path
Magdalena Jabłońska of Start Smart CEE, an incubator and accelerator supporting technology startups, has not observed a significant increase in Polish women's interest in investment funding.
"We do have startups founded by women, but they account for a very small proportion of the total. Women are more likely to establish companies in specific sectors, such as femtech, medical technology, deep tech, biochemistry, and machine learning. In these fields, the founders are primarily female scientists," says Jabłońska.
She also points to the stage of life at which some women decide to become entrepreneurs.
"New business ideas often emerge during maternity leave. Some women decide to pursue them and start their own companies. But raising capital from investors who expect quick returns is much harder for them. Investors are more familiar with a business world dominated by men and don't always know what to expect from female entrepreneurs," she explains.
Better results, less funding
The imbalance becomes particularly apparent when a young company needs private investment.
A study covering 7,165 European deep-tech startups across 37 countries revealed substantial disparities in how female and male founders are treated.
Women account for approximately 14% of founders, yet startups with female founders receive just 11.4% of total funding. Public money also represents a significantly larger share of financing for women-led startups than for the wider market.
Research suggests that companies founded by women may use the capital they raise more efficiently. Yet this does not translate into proportionate interest from investors.
"Male-led startups receive disproportionately more funding," emphasized Martyna Zastawna, a business and diversity mentor, during a discussion at the COP17 forum in Armenia.
She cited a Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge study titled Why Women-Owned Startups Are a Better Bet.
The research found that startups founded or co-founded by women generated an average of 78 cents in revenue for every dollar of funding raised, compared with just 31 cents for companies founded by men.
At the same time, male-founded companies received 91.56% of the total financing awarded to the startups covered by the study.
From policy plans to real change
Access to capital is only one stage in developing a business or commercializing a technology. The European Union has concluded that systemic changes are necessary to give more women the opportunity to reach that stage in the first place.
On March 5, 2026, the European Commission adopted its Gender Equality Strategy for 2026–2030. One of its priorities is increasing women's participation in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Brussels is no longer framing the issue solely as one of equal rights. It increasingly defines the shortage of women in technology as an economic problem.
Europe needs scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, yet it is failing to make full use of a substantial share of its own talent.
Read more: Brussels Prepares a Program to Level the Playing Field for Women in Innovation: "I'd Rather Not Comment on This"
Universities applying for certain Horizon Europe funds must already meet additional gender equality requirements. Now, following months of consultations and analysis, Brussels is beginning to change the rules governing how women build careers in science, develop technologies, and establish innovative businesses.
The European Commission has announced that it intends to adopt an Action Plan for Women in Research, Innovation and Startups in 2026. The plan is expected to introduce a package of concrete measures, and the Commission has not withdrawn that commitment.
The proposed policy would cover the entire career path, from choosing a profession and progressing through academic ranks to founding a company, attracting investors, and commercializing new technologies.
A new plan for women in science and technology
The EU wants to change the conditions under which women pursue scientific careers, reducing the number who leave academia after completing their PhDs and improving their opportunities to advance.
The plan is expected to address employment conditions, professional development, promotion, and the long-term retention of women in research and innovation.
The European Commission has explicitly stated that it wants female researchers and scientists to be able to develop their entire careers in Europe rather than having to seek opportunities abroad.
From January 2027, the eligibility rules for prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants will also change.
The application windows for Starting Grants and Consolidator Grants will be extended. Researchers will be able to apply for Starting Grants within ten years of completing their PhDs, while Consolidator Grants will be available between five and 15 years after the doctorate.
Additional extensions will be possible in certain circumstances, including parental leave and career interruptions resulting from experiences of violence.
The proposed action plan also aims to address women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as in technology startups.
The Commission is promising measures tailored to individual disciplines, particularly those with the lowest female participation. It also wants to encourage more women to pursue careers in STEM fields.
Another priority is improving access to capital for female founders.
Women TechEU is one of the instruments already in place, but the forthcoming plan is intended to address the broader journey from research findings to company formation and private investment.
As part of the European Research Area agenda, the EU plans to develop rules for gender budgeting – tracking where funding actually goes and whether it helps increase women's participation.
At the same time, new methods are being developed to assess the effectiveness of institutional gender equality measures, alongside indicators to measure their impact.
To strengthen women's role in innovation, the EU also intends to change how research and technologies are designed.
The Commission wants differences between women and men to be considered more systematically when planning research, implementing findings, and developing innovations. The aim is to prevent technologies, products, and medical solutions from being designed primarily around data collected from men.
Universities will have to adapt
The Commission also wants to reduce gender pay gaps and inequalities in career advancement.
The new plan is intended to help universities, research institutes, and R&D companies implement pay transparency requirements and better identify the stages of academic careers at which disparities between women and men emerge.
The EU is also developing new data collection systems that will make it possible to compare not only the number of women working in research but also their representation in leadership positions, project teams, and research funding.
Read more: A 340% Increase, but Only 22 Female Rectors: Why Women Rarely Lead Universities
Measures are also being developed to create safer working environments in research and innovation. The Commission intends to strengthen efforts to combat harassment and gender-based violence.
Expert's perspective
Women in science must not be forgotten
"The best example is the lack of sensible regulations within Poland's Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) that account for the realities of a female scientist's work.
"Taking maternity leave is possible, but imagine that a paper I submitted to reviewers many months earlier happens to be published while I'm receiving maternity benefits. ZUS could then demand that I repay those benefits.
"Under the rules, publication means I was working, which I'm not allowed to do while receiving maternity benefits. Yet another part of the system evaluates us based on the number of publications we produce."
Read more: Dr. Dagmara Stasiowska: "I'd Like to Be the First Space Beekeeper"
UNESCO: the problem begins much earlier
The EU's initiatives respond to a problem highlighted by UNESCO in its latest report on women in technology, Changing the Equation: Securing STEM Futures for Women.
According to the report, women account for approximately 35% of STEM graduates, even though their share of all higher education graduates is substantially larger.
Across G20 countries, women hold only around 22% of STEM jobs, despite accounting for approximately 42% of the overall workforce.
UNESCO emphasizes that these disparities cannot be explained by girls having weaker abilities in mathematics or natural sciences. Differences in academic performance are relatively small.
Far more important are stereotypes, aspirations, educational choices, a lack of role models, caregiving responsibilities, working conditions, access to capital, and opportunities for promotion.
The engineering gap
The largest gender disparities are found in computer science and certain engineering disciplines.
These inequalities become even more pronounced as women move into the labor market, seek financing, patent inventions, and compete for leadership positions.
Poland provides a clear illustration of this pattern.
Women make up the majority of university students and account for more than half of doctoral graduates. Yet they remain significantly underrepresented in computer science, senior academic positions, and research conducted within the business sector.
Key Takeaways
- The EU is preparing measures to increase women's participation in science, innovation, and startups. The new policy is intended to cover the entire career path, from working conditions and professional advancement to access to capital, research commercialization, and the creation of technology companies.
- Women TechEU grants aim to help female founders turn technologies into viable businesses. Under the 2026–2028 program, 160 startups will receive EUR 75,000 each, alongside business development support. In every funding round, 40% of the budget is reserved for countries with weaker innovation performance, including Poland.
- The gender gap begins in education and widens throughout professional careers. Women account for around 35% of STEM graduates but hold only 22% of STEM jobs across G20 countries, according to UNESCO's latest report. The greatest barriers emerge in computer science, engineering, access to capital, and leadership positions – all areas where structural change is needed.