Universities debate female start-ups

Entrepreneurship is now taught in European universities as part of the curricula and start-up support systems are becoming increasingly available.

Whilst women represent around 50% of students at universities they are very much unrepresented in terms of scientific or entrepreneurial careers.

FemStart has looked at specific opportunities which encourage women in science to choose entrepreneurship as a career path. FemStart has discussed how entrepreneurship support structures in universities might be optimised to reach their full potential by encouraging more women to think about an entrepreneurial career.

A series of 6 events has taken place in Stuttgart (DE), Valencia (ES), Wroclaw (PL), Riga (LV), Twente (NL) and Bucharest (RO) which have initiated a public debate on issues such as,
- why the situation is as it is
- which organisations have tried and succeeded (or failed) in increasing the number of women starting their own business after university and
- which organisations have developed good practice outside the university start-up environment which could be transferred to others.

A total of 522 participants had the opportunity to discuss these issues with 88 speakers.

As a result of what has been learnt from each individual event, a leaflet with recommendations has been published and is available to download from this site or can be ordered from the Coordinator. The recommendations are a source of knowledge for regions that could not be covered by the initiative.

The FemStart website will remain online until at least the middle of 2010. Please note, however, that the news section and other information will not be updated frequently.

News

18.05.2009 CEWS publishes report on encouraging the advancing of women scientists
13.05.2009 WEL Summit in Istanbul, Turkey [June 4-5, 2009]
11.05.2009 EC-Publication: The Secret Of Success
14.04.2009 FemStart has started the discussion ...
12.03.2009 Women in Academia - Barriers and Good Practices, Conference in Denmark
06.03.2009 FemStart Article published in eStrategies
03.03.2009 Winner of International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship Best Paper Award announced
24.02.2009 Evening Reception and Conference in Brussels, 2nd March and 3rd March 2009
29.01.2009 Women’s International Research Engineering Summit (WIRES), Barcelona, June 2-4, 2009
28.01.2009 FemStart Recommendations
16.01.2009 Frauen gründen High-Tech
07.01.2009 Women in the Academy of International Business Emerging scholar AWARD in Women's Entrepreneurship
15.12.2008 Conference Bucharest - Summarising Result Paper
02.12.2008 The European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT)
31.10.2008 Conference Twente - Summarising Result Paper
27.10.2008 Programme Announcement for the FemStart Event in Bucharest
20.10.2008 Bucharest Conference Programme available
15.10.2008 “Women in Chemistry” Symposium
02.10.2008 Conference - Women entrepreneurship, how does it works
09.09.2008 Report - Situation of Women Scientists in Europe
08.09.2008 Conference Gender Budgeting as an instrument for managing scientific organisations
01.09.2008 Continuation of the Gender Action Plan or an equivalent under the Seventh Framework Research Programme (FRP)
29.08.2008 Seventh Emmy Noether Annual Meeting in Potsdam - Young researchers
25.08.2008 New brochure: The Path to ERC Grants
21.07.2008 A New European Centre for Women and Technology opens the way to link global ICT Initiatives
18.07.2008 Research ruled by men, many female scientists agree
11.07.2008 Report on Women and Science by the European Parliament
11.07.2008 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award 2009
10.07.2008 Gender in technological transfer positions: final conference in Barcelona on 11/13 June 2008
03.07.2008 14th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES14)
30.06.2008 New Web Portal EURAXESS
16.06.2008 DINAMICS - Diagnostic Nanotech and Microtech Sensors
21.05.2008 Conideas Valencia
09.05.2008 Final Conference of the EU-projects ‘Encouragement to Advance’ and ‘Advance’
11.03.2008 2008 W.I.N. Forum in Barcelona
04.03.2008 Women Innovators Connected, Glasgow
22.02.2008 Conference paper call: The politics of knowing: research, institutions and gender in the making
11.02.2008 DIONE Conference 2008, Newcastle, UK
30.01.2008 Neuer Aufruf für Projekte der EU-US Hochschulkooperation
28.01.2008 Slowenische Ratspräsidentschaft: Thema Frauen in der Wissenschaft
28.01.2008 Slovenian Council Presidency: Role of Women in Science
22.01.2008 ACTiVATE program received the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship's award
18.01.2008 UKRC Conference 200: Raising the profile of women scientists and engineers within the Media and creating partnerships for the future
15.01.2008 Conference Wroclaw - Summarising Result Paper
14.01.2008 bga - Fachtagung Good-Practice-Beispiele von Gründerinnen- und Unternehmerinnenzentren in Deutschland
10.01.2008 Jump - Homepage Forum for Active Women
08.01.2008 High Technology Small Firms Conference, May 21-23, 2008, Enschede, The Netherlands
10.12.2007 FemStart Riga, LV - Programm verfügbar
05.12.2007 Erfolgreich ist weiblich - Neues BMBF-Projekt stellt sich vor
29.10.2007 Programme for FemStart Riga to be announced shortly
08.10.2007 High level of interest in FemStart Wroclaw
27.08.2007 FemStart Wroclaw - Programme finalised
09.08.2007 Online registration for third FemStart conference in Wroclaw commences
07.08.2007 European W.I.S.E.R. Festival in Maastricht (NL) Oct 4-5: Women in Science, Education and Research
09.07.2007 Nordic Conference on Women's Entrepreneurship and Regional Development with focus on Women's Resource Centres (WRCs)
28.06.2007 Experts discussion on how to promote women scientists to start a business in Riga
25.06.2007 fusion - Opportunities for women-owned businesses in Science, Engineering, Construction and Technology
15.06.2007 Frauen schaffen Innovation in Europa - Frauen aus Forschung und Industrie vernetzen sich in Freiburg
21.05.2007 Conference Valencia - Summarising Result Paper
16.05.2007 Dates announced for fourth FemStart Event
14.05.2007 European Platform of Women Scientists holds first General Assembly
11.05.2007 Support for families 'essential for more growth and jobs'
17.04.2007 Registration deadline for the 2nd event, Valencia on 20. April 2007
13.04.2007 Conference: Gender Issues in Research - Innovation through Gender Equality, Berlin, 18.-19.April
26.03.2007 Encouragement to Advance - Training Seminars for Women Scientists
16.03.2007 Conference Stuttgart - Summarising Result Paper
07.03.2007 Photos of the first FemStart conference are published
06.03.2007 European Presidency Conference in Stuttgart, 13. - 15. May 2007
16.02.2007 First FemStart Forum attracts good attendance
09.02.2007 First FemStart Forum set to welcome guests from Europe
07.02.2007 Neue Auszeichnung für innovative Frauen ins Leben gerufen
26.01.2007 Registration deadline approaching
22.01.2007 Speaker profiles online
04.01.2007 Online registration commences
03.01.2007 Happy New Year
19.12.2006 Programme for FemStart Stuttgart available for download
15.12.2006 Programme for FemStart Stuttgart finalised
08.12.2006 National Agency for Women Start-ups Activities and Services (bga) backs FemStart
08.12.2006 Erster Preis in der Kategorie Wegbereiter des Unternehmertums für ifex bei den European Enterprise Awards in Brüssel
24.11.2006 Dates finalised for second FemStart Event
10.11.2006 Dates finalised for first FemStart Event