Focusing on gender diversity and developing entrepreneurial talent are among the top 10 priority areas identified in Innovate Europe: Competing for Global Innovation Leadership, a report published by Digital Europe, an initiative of the World Economic Forum to promote a pan-European approach to innovation.
At a workshop in Berlin in September 2019, over 30 European founders, investors and corporate leaders (both men and women) came together to explore the underlying underrepresentation of women as entrepreneurs and investors in Europe. The workshop was hosted jointly by the World Economic Forum and SAP. The workshop began with a panel representing the founder, investor, corporate and government perspectives, followed by a design-thinking activity in which participants were split into five idea teams, each challenged to develop one new solution leveraging their existing resources and expertise. After the workshop, the five teams continued collaboration via an online platform to further elaborate their ideas and document the first steps needed for implementation.
This paper builds on the workshop results and summarizes the big ideas that will be further explored for implementation.
