"AI Hackathon" at Cambridge venture studio aims to introduce more women to new tech
A Cambridge lab is trying to help more women break into artificial intelligence and technology fields.
AI is transforming the way we live and work, but we've seen plenty of cases where AI shows bias, often from the male perspective. Whether it's the real world or digital, C10 Labs is building a future with women in mind.
"Half of the planet is women. Women think differently about ventures, what we build," C10 Labs co-founder Patricia Geli said.
It's not just about fairness; it's also good business.
"It's important to have women thinking through what the next trillion dollar company and opportunities," Geli said.
To encourage more women to get involved, the venture studio hosted a hands-on event called an "AI Hackathon," where participants learned to use cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools.
"As long as you know something about the problem you want to solve and you have a good understanding of why AI is the way to solve it, these tools are really accessible to almost anybody," said Beth Porter, C10 Labs' head of studio operations.
Teams created ideas or products using AI.
The winning team focused on health care, creating a tool that helps IVF clinics better predict embryo implantation success while protecting patient privacy.
"With AI, it's so easy to just learn, and I think it's all about just learning and getting your hands on these tools," AI Hackathon winner Gigi Aocaraz said.
The winners received $5,000 worth of Amazon Web Services credits to build their idea further, in addition to a small cash prize.
For the Hackathon, C10 Labs partnered with Springboard Enterprises, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women-led tech and science companies grow.
"Women are doing well when they're supported properly in the market, and they can get the investments in a competitive environment," Springboard Enterprises co-founder and chairman Kay Koplovitz said.
A study by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire puts that into perspective.
According to the study, in 2004, women made up just 5% of angel investors, or people who invest personal money into startups. In 2023, 46.7% of angel investors were women.
The study also shows that nearly half of the businesses seeking angel capital in 2023 were women-owned, compared to just 4.7% in 2004.
"Women have capital, whether they inherited it or made it, and more women have made it than have ever before," Koplovitz said. "So these are momentum factors, and one of the things we want to make sure in doing the Hackathon was that women were out in front with the newest technologies available to create and grow their companies."
This investment in women is already showing results.
A C10 Labs alum developed a software company to reduce fashion waste by connecting secondhand goods from stores to consumers using AI.
"Being able to leverage different AI tools, combining text, image – and that's what we did at the hack – how can we do that efficiently so that we can extract as much as possible and really matching the retailer supply with the consumer demand?" said Cecilia Hermawan, founder and CEO of Preloved Guru. "Empowering the retailers and giving them the right tools that otherwise they would not have access to – it's a great use case of AI."
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