Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn, Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet and Dutch politician Neelie Kroes have been named in a new list of the 50 most inspiring women in European technology.

Inspiring Fifty has compiled a list of the 50 most inspirational female leaders working in tech in Europe, including entrepreneurs, academics and policy-makers.

Among those to make the list are Facebook vice-president EMEA Mendelsohn, Net-a-Porter’s Massenet, former European Commission vice-president Kroes, Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox, and Unruly co-founder Sarah Wood.

The judging panel comprised Shari Yoder Doherty, partner at venture firm Atomico; Ellenore Angelidis, diversity director at Amazon; CNN’s business anchor Nina Dos Santos; UK government advisor Russell Buckley; and Inspiring Fifty founders Janneke Niessen and Joelle Frijters.

The final list included entrants from 16 countries across Europe. The UK did best, with 17 British women making the list. France provided the second-highest number, with nine, while Germany was in third place with six.

“Many women in tech seeking female role models currently look towards the most visible, the headline-makers, like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo’s Marissa Meyer,” said Niessen.

“However, as amazing as those women are, we felt there was a need to showcase the many accomplished, and all-too-often overlooked women in technology closer to home.”

Frijters added: “We strongly believe that female role models are central to bringing real and lasting change to a sector that too-often exhibits inequality and, broadly speaking, suffers from diversity imbalance.

“Beyond their contributions to tech and innovation, there was one very important characteristic many of our nominees and finalists shared: a passion and dedication to give back to others – men and women alike – helping a new generation find success in technology and, ultimately, leaving as their legacy an industry in better shape than they found it.”

The full list can be seen below: