A new initiative aimed at encouraging gender diversity in startups has been established by NDRC, offering commercial planning and technology advice to participants.

Female Founders, which describes itself as a "pre-accelerator" is being run by NDRC in partnership with AIB and Enterprise Ireland, aimed at women with high-tech business startup ideas.

The programme, which is being run from July 25th until August 29th, will be run on a part-time basis and will give participants the opportunity to build a startup team, benefit from expert advice on planning, and hear contributions from experienced mentors and role models.

Men and women who have specialist skills that could be useful to new enterprises are also being encouraged to apply, with the potential to join a startup team.

"The world's most successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common – they started with an innovative new idea and turned it into a high growth business," said Ben Hurley, NDRC chief executive. "It sounds simple in one sentence like that but the various steps can be difficult and that's precisely what Female Founders at NDRC is designed to address for women with technology and digital startup ideas."

Applications for the programme close on July 2nd.

The decision to launch a female-focused programme came after international research indicated gender diversity in startup teams contributes to success, with studies demonstrating better results from IPOs, high annual revenues and higher returns on investment in firms led by women.