ISL | KVENN

KVENN – Iceland was founded on July 11th 2007. Our goal is to connect inventive women in Iceland and to cooperate with similar associations globally :

• to make female inventors and innovators visible and noticeable to society.
• to give female inventors and innovators contacts with other female in other countries.
• to encourage women to develop their creativity and realize their ideas.
• both social and technical ones.
• for the benefit of society.

We will reach these goals by rewarding women for their invention and by taking part and planning exhibitions and conferences in Iceland and internationally.

The inaugural meeting of KVENN (foreign name QUIN-Iceland and IWIIN- Icelandic Women Inventors and Innovators Network), which is a society of women inventors and entrepreneurs, was held in Perlan on July 11, 2007. It was attended by women who are all involved in innovation in various fields. These include those who have received international recognition for their innovation and young women who have participated in the Primary School Innovation Competition.
The KVENN network will aim to make women more visible in the field of inventions and entrepreneurship. WOMEN will be involved in Nordic and international co-operation in raising awareness of women’s innovation and thereby creating positive role models for future generations.
KVENN will strive to be in collaboration with the various associations, schools and the business community, in order to achieve its goal of making women more visible and productive in the field of inventions and entrepreneurship.
The following were elected to the board: Ágústína Ingvarsdóttir, Life-Navigation, Dórótea H. Sigurðardóttir, university student, Kolbrún Hjörleifs, principal, Doktor María Ragnarsdóttir, REMO ehf., Physiotherapist, Svanborg R.Jónsdóttir, teacher and doctoral student in innovation education, Þuríður Guðmundsdóttir, MOA and CLEAR cosmetic and newly crowned winner of the EUWIIN award. Elinóra Inga Sigurðardóttir was elected chairman of KVENN but she has been Iceland’s representative in the Nordic network of inventions and women entrepreneurs. She has organized exhibitions and conferences for the organization in Iceland in 2001, 2004 and 2005. She has also given lectures at the OECD meeting in Paris in 2002 and at the Business Women Network meeting in Washington DC in 2003, on the importance of networks, women’s innovation and build strong and positive role models.
All women who are involved in innovation, are imaginative or want to increase women’s innovation are encouraged to contact the KVENN board and become members.

A new board was elected in December 2008. Its members are:

Elinóra Inga Sigurðardóttir, chairman
Hanna Stefánsdóttir, treasurer
María Ragnarsdóttir,secretary
Guðrún Guðrúnardóttir, co-manager
Kolbrún Hjörleifsdóttir, co-manager