Project description
Innovation as a path to reduce gender gaps in entrepreneurship
Gender disparities persist in entrepreneurship and academic science, despite innovation’s economic prowess. In the EU, women hold only 34 % of entrepreneurial roles, facing challenges like limited funding. Similarly, in academic innovation, women are underrepresented and their research is often overlooked. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the GenderGapsInnovation project seeks to unravel these imbalances. Through three studies, it aims to explore determinants of gender gaps in entrepreneurship, evaluate interventions to bridge these divides, and analyse the impact of gender diversity in academic research. Overall, the project investigates factors like motherhood’s influence on businesses and the role of online networking. This research promises insights crucial for fostering inclusive innovation ecosystems.
Objective
Innovation is widely recognized as a key driver of economic growth. However, large gender disparities persist in crucial components of the innovation ecosystem: entrepreneurship and academic science. In the EU, for instance, women represent only 34% of entrepreneurs. Globally, female-owned businesses tend to be smaller, less profitable, and face challenges raising external funding. This disparity also extends to academic innovation, where women remain underrepresented and are less likely to receive credit for their research. Moreover, critical research areas, such as health issues that predominantly affect women, remain under-studied. Given the implications for economic growth and societal wellbeing, the overarching goal of this research is to understand the determinants of the gender gaps in entrepreneurship and science as well as their consequences for innovation.
To address these knowledge gaps, during my MSCA fellowship at Tilburg University, my research objectives will (1) explore potential determinants of the gender gap in entrepreneurship; (2) investigate interventions and policies that can address these gaps; and (3) understand the consequences of the lack of gender diversity in innovative activities, especially in academic science, on the production of ideas and how ideas by women are perceived. To achieve these objectives, I will conduct three interconnected studies. In the first study, I will use Dutch microdata to assess the role of motherhood and the impacts of maternity leave policies on female-owned businesses. Second, I build upon an experiment in Ghana to evaluate how access to online networking can close the gender gap in business performance. Finally, I will investigate how increasing gender diversity at universities can impact research topics and the recognition of female-authored work. Together, these investigations delve into gender disparities in entrepreneurship and refine our understanding of how diversity fosters innovation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5037 AB Tilburg
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.