Leading European speakers have addressed the barriers faced by women at INNOVEIT Bilbao

Entrepreneurs and innovators from all over the continent met today. Among the speakers was Martin Kern, EIT Director: "The underrepresentation of women needs to be addressed, especially in sectors such as engineering or digitalization, where they are less than 20%. We must keep changing it and, to do so, we already have an action plan and a strategy that will be worked on together across the entire EIT community". Kern said that next week a new initiative "very focused on women will be presented, although it is not only aimed at women. It is very focused on technology, because we need more skills and to create and solve more challenges in this sector”.

Carolina Rodríguez, General Director of the High Commission of Spain Entrepreneurial Nation, was also present. She stated that "the first step to solve a problem is to recognize its existence", and thanked EIT Food for recognizing with this event that "there is indeed a problem". In Spain, only 16% of startup creators are women, and they are only a 13% of venture capital managers: "In Europe, the numbers are similar or even worse. For Spain to be a leader in entrepreneurship, we need everyone's help and talent, and for everyone to feel confident that no one will be left behind. We have promoted 50 measures so that innovative entrepreneurship is transversal and helps to generate more and better employment in the Spanish economy as a whole; seven of them address the gender gap directly.”

Stefan van Duin, investment associate at Borski Fund, said that if there are more female investors, there will be more female entrepreneurs: "Men tend to invest more in male-led companies and women in female-led companies, so if there are more female investors, there will be more impulse for women in the whole innovation system". She also stated that there are many companies developing much-needed innovations that don't always get the attention they deserve: "We recently invested in a company that had created a device to measure hormone levels, with application, for example, when it comes to seeing the best time to conceive. Fewer men see these innovations interesting, but thanks to the women on our team, we decided to invest. Involving more women in this process is very important”.

According to Liselore Havermans, Head of Research at Dealroom, this also has an impact on the way women are viewed within companies: "Investors, before investing, ask men about promotion and success, whereas women are asked more about prevention and risks. If we have more women investors this way of thinking can change”.

Incorporating more women into the innovation ecosystem is not only a matter of fighting inequality, but also a global benefit: according to Maija Palmer, editor at Global Corporate Venturing, "it is proven that women entrepreneurs are more effective at generating a return (73 cents for every dollar, compared to 31 cents for men). However, the amount of money going to women-led startups is small". In fact, "only 1% of the total funding granted in 2022 went to European companies led solely by women", according to European Investment Fund (EIF) Senior Mandate Officer Laoura Ntziourou.

Sometimes the focus is not the right one to turn the tables. "When journalists ask me about the difficulties of running my business, I tell them to ask me about my business, my plans, my successes. Not about how difficult it is", said Lisa Lang, Director EU Affairs & Policy Orchestrator at European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Climate KIC.

EIT promotes women innovators with the aim of increasing their global impact and INNOVEIT Bilbao has counted with some of them. Sara Guimarães Gonçalves, Co-founder and CEO of Actif, highlighted the value of these programs: "When creating an idea you need a multidisciplinary team that is aligned with it. Of course investors are also important, but the support of a team is paramount as well. And don’t forget education and awareness of future generations". Maria Cristina Pasi, Founder and Managing Director of Izar, also agreed with this idea, stating that experience in different sectors is necessary: "Competitiveness and knowledge are extremely important, and as women in the world of science and business we need to have both". Speakers such as Clara Pombo, Group Chief Intitutional Relations Officer at ClarkeModet, and Blanca Drake, Head of Innovation Marketing at Telefonica, agreed that "we should encourage more women to take an interest in the technology sector. Sometimes we think it doesn't belong to us because engineering or technology degrees are full of men. It is important to teach women and technology students about entrepreneurship, and to show them examples of women and how they can make an impact too”.

The day was closed by Andy Zynga, CEO of EIT Food, who insisted that "transformative agrifood systems require the participation of more women, as well as more opportunities, equality and rights in the workplace. Measurable indicators are needed when addressing equality and diversity by institutions".