Study on ‘Statistical Data on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe’ by European Comission (September 2014) shows that women entrepreneurs constituted 31% of total entrepreneurs and 26% of all employers in European Union in 2012. Unfortunately, only one third of all entrepreneurs in scientific and technological sectors are women. Decreasing the gender gap in technological sector is possible by engagement of more female scientists/engineers, with abilities to create their own high-tech products, in innovative entrepreneurship.The 2011 EU Modernisation Agenda lists; stimulating the development of entrepreneurial, creative and innovation skills in all disciplines, promoting through more interactive learning environments, strengthening the knowledge-transfer infrastructures and enhancing their capacity to engage in start-ups, as priority areas for higher education institutions.This project aims to embed the transversal skills required to raise the innovative women entrepreneurs of the future into higher education by developing an innovative ‘Transnational Entrepreneurial Internship’ Programme. During this programme students will receive training from experts and acquire hands-on experience by working at high technology transnational start ups.Workshops and conferences on innovative entrepreneurship will be conducted as part of the project. A curriculum titled ‘Basics of Innovative Entrepreneurship’ targeting students from technical fields will be proposed. The knowledge and experiences acquired through this project will be collected in a book titled ‘Experiences of the Innovative Women Entrepreneurs of the Future’ and an e-book titled ‘A Roadmap to Successful Incubator’. All the outcomes of the project will be compiled as e-modules on the project website under the name ‘InnoWomEnt Tools Kit’. The intellectual outputs from the project will offer the tools and encouragement to the students of technical universities, who are potential innovators of the future, to take a step in starting their businesses, free of charge. The project and its outputs will also be advertised by the ‘InnoWomEnt’ videoclip online and on TV to increase the number of audience and the impact on society.Tecnical higher education institutes ( Bursa Technical University, Politecnico di Torino and Politechnika Slaska) are chosen as partners since the project targets female students from technical/engineering disciplines. I3P (incubator) and Technopark Gliwice are involved in the project as the project’s lofty aim is to raise the entrepreneurs of the future. Having KOSGEB as a partner will increase the impact of the project as the organization steers/determines the policies about entrepereneurs and SMEs in Turkey.
"Statistical Data on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe" (European Comission, September 2014) show that women entrepreneurs constituted 31% of all entrepreneurs in European Union. These statistics persist in 2018 and women make up only one third of all entrepreneurs in Science and Technology sectors, reflecting the ratio of female students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at higher education institutes. The 2011 EU Modernisation Agenda lists; stimulating the development of entrepreneurial, creative and innovation skills in all disciplines, promoting through more interactive learning environments, strengthening the knowledge-transfer infrastructures and enhancing their capacity to engage in start-ups, as priority areas for higher education institutions. InnoWomEnt Project, is a strategic partnership of Bursa Technical University (Bursa, Turkey), Politecnico di Torino (Torino, Italy), I3P - The Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino (Torino, Italy), Silesian University of Technology (Gliwice, Poland), Technopark Gliwice (Gliwice, Poland) and KOSGEB - Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (Bursa, Turkey) established with the following objectives: • Raise awareness about the gender gap in technological fields and encourage female students to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, • Improve transversal/entrepreneurial skills (creativity, analysis, critical thinking, risk taking, digital literacy, foreign langauage speaking, problem solving, and etc.) through curricular courses, seminars, workshops and teaching/learning mobilities, • Develop learning modules for all prospective entrepreneurs, and • Create a roadmap for an efficient Entrepreneurial Ecosystem where prospective entrepreneurs could reach the network, training, mentoring and support that they strive for. Development of transversal/entrepreneurial skills has been encouraged through workshops on 'Entrepreneurial Training' and ‘Innovative Entrepreneurship’, where experts from partner organizations gave seminars on; invention, innovation, women in STEM fields, technology transfer, intellectual property rights, business plan, status of women in society, leadership and entrepreneurship. Twelve female engineering students were placed at international high technology start-ups for a period of 6 weeks as part of the 'Transnational Entrepreneurial Internship Program' and they have been awarded ECTS credits for having completed the program successfully. Entrepreneurial training was embedded in Bursa Technical University's curriculum through a course titled ‘Basics of Innovative Entrepreneurship’ (taught in English). The students who succeeded the course were granted ECTS credits and the right to apply for KOSGEB's (Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Organization) Entrepreneurial Funding. A book titled ‘Experiences of the Innovative Women Entrepreneurs of the Future’, which presents a comprehensive guideline to not only women but everyone who is willing to set up their own enterprises and an e-book titled ‘A Roadmap to Successful Incubator’, which aims to function as a manual not only for prospective entrepreneurs but also for organizations willing to support start-ups were published. All the information gathered through this project are covered in these two books. InnoWomEnt Videoclips were produced and broadcasted to raise awareness and encourage more female students to study Scince, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and start their own businesses. The outputs of this project are compiled and shared by the society without any limitations at the project website (www.innowoment.org) which functions as an e-learning module. The ‘InnoWomEnt’ Project Logo symbolizes a Women in Victory pose.