Igniting Women’s Innovation: Insights from CSW70 at the United Nations

On 18 March, 2026, the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative of the UN Global Compact, convened a side event entitled, Igniting Women’s Innovation during the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at United Nations Headquarters in New York. This important conversation brought together leaders from the UN system, academia, finance, entrepreneurship, and the private sector to examine how stronger support systems can unlock the full potential of women and girls as innovators and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event focused on a central challenge: women and girls are already driving solutions to global problems, but too often face structural barriers that limit access to mentorship, funding, and decision-making spaces. The PRME Students Innovation Studio is a three-month global incubator that empowers interdisciplinary student teams to design and scale ventures aligned with the SDGs, looking to address this issue. At this event, PRME launched the Studio’s SheLeads Track, which provides targeted mentorship, ecosystem access, and seed funding for women-led ventures addressing systemic barriers to entrepreneurship. In doing so, it moves beyond awareness toward structural support, equipping young women not only to innovate, but to commercialize, protect, and scale their ideas in systems that have not always been built with them in mind.

This emphasis on translating ideas into tangible support systems was a recurring theme throughout the event. Opening remarks set the tone for an action-oriented conversation about the systems needed to help female-led ventures survive, scale, and contribute to SDG-aligned impact. Speakers emphasized that the world cannot afford to leave women’s innovation potential under-supported at a time when progress on many global goals has stalled.

Jing Zhao Cesarone, Founder and CEO of the Global CSR Foundation and Kelly Heuer, Vice President of Learning at the Project Management Institute (PMI) opened the discussion with keynotes focusing on the importance of women’s innovation being intentional, structural, and sustained. Jing shared, this is not simply a participation gap, but “a leadership and innovation gap and a call for action.” Kelly Heuer noted, “Mentorship is not predominantly about advice, it’s about access. It’s people who can advocate for you and connect you to others who have resources.” She also shared that PMI sees a 3.8x multiplier in project success where mentors are involved, underscoring the tangible value of building mentorship into innovation pathways.

The first panel, Creating Systems to Support Female Entrepreneurship for SDG-aligned Impact, explored the ecosystem changes needed to move from aspiration to implementation. Moderated by Kristina Mincheva, Coordinator of Programmes & Engagement at PRME, the session featured voices from Sana Bao, International Client & Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley, Kelly Heuer at PMI, Max Song Entrepreneur-in-Residence/Strikeforce for Peter Diamandis, and Clémence Kopeikin, Chief Operating Officer at FyrstGen. Panelists highlighted that women entrepreneurs do not lack talent or ambition; rather, they often lack access to the networks, role models, and institutional structures that make growth possible.

The conversation also challenged institutions to rethink how support is designed. Max Song of Strikeforce / Peter Diamandis, called for more ambitious structural reforms, arguing that policies should better recognize and reward women’s leadership across different life stages. Sana Bao from Morgan Stanley delivered a message of confidence and self-belief to aspiring founders, reminding participants that women innovators should not feel they must prove their worth before entering the room.

The second panel, Investing in Her Innovation: Financing the Next Generation of Women Leaders, turned to the funding landscape and the importance of representation in financial decision-making. Speakers from venture capital, wealth management, XPRIZE, and student entrepreneurship emphasized that expanding access to capital requires changing who controls capital as well as how investment opportunities are identified and evaluated.

Robin Wood Sailer of Helena Capital shared, “In order to invest in women entrepreneurs, you need women on the venture capital side.” Lu Zhou, CEO of Vanquour Wealth Management, added that women in finance have a powerful role to play in directing assets toward more inclusive and sustainable outcomes. Annika Anderson, Team Relations Manager at XPRIZE, highlighted how women-led teams are often bringing more inclusive and holistic approaches to scientific innovation, while Lakshita Ganesh Kumar, a student entrepreneur from the University of Connecticut - a PRME Signatory Member - underscored the importance of exposing STEM students to entrepreneurship and ensuring female students can see mentors and role models who reflect their ambitions.

Through Igniting Women’s Innovation, a space was leveraged to not only to spotlight inspiring voices, but to push the conversation toward concrete collaboration. The event reaffirmed a clear message: when women are supported as innovators, investors, and leaders, the benefits extend far beyond individual ventures to communities, economies, and progress on the SDGs worldwide.