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Women in STEM round table: bias, barriers and breakthroughs

PostMag hosted a discussion between 5 Hong Kong-based innovators blazing a trail: Florence Chan, Angela Wu, Wendy Lam, Gina Jiang and Megan Lam

Reading Time:7 minutes

Women innovators in science and tech (from left) Megan Lam, Wendy Lam, Angela Wu, Florence Chan and Gina Jiang. Photo: TMT

Published: 2:00pm, 11 Mar 2025Updated: 3:36pm, 13 Mar 2025

PostMag meets five women who are at the top of their game and pushing the boundaries of scientific and technological discovery in Hong Kong.

Here, editor Cat Nelson talks to Florence Chan, co-founder and CEO of AI Guided; Angela Wu, a professor at HKUST’s division of life science and department of chemical and biological engineering; Wendy Lam, founder of EzyGreenPak; Gina Jiang, managing director of the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology; and Megan Lam, co-founder of Neurum Health.

Wendy Lam: I always heard there was a gender imbalance, but once I got into the tech industry, after I graduated, I actually felt there were quite a lot of women. But even though it’s easier for women to enter the industry, it’s harder to advance, and there’s less representation in leadership, C-suite and the decision-making levels.

We have a software platform now and every time I try to join a conversation with other leaders or stakeholders, they’ll say, “Can you just bring your tech guy here?” And I’m thinking … “What?”

But compared to the past? I think it’s easier to get into the industry now.

Wendy Lam, founder of EzyGreenPak. Photo: TMT

Megan Lam: I agree. There’s a pipeline there, and I think increasingly one benefit is that we’re inspiring more girls and more young women. So we’re pumping more water into the pipeline, but the pipeline is leaky.