A post from Indro Mukerjee, CEO Innovate UK
At Innovate UK, we firmly believe that better representation and inclusion are fundamental elements of the economy and society we want……and need.
Inclusivity makes human sense, and also it makes economic sense.
We know this as people, and we know this through research and data.
A strong innovation-led economy needs the strongest possible pipeline of talent and skills, and better representation and inclusion are essential for this.
Since starting this role 3.5 years ago, we’ve worked hard as a team to encourage and support greater inclusion across the UK’s innovation system; across business, academia, government and our broader society.
It’s a big system, and there’s a lot to be done, but we’ve worked to be part of the way forward, and our impact, to be part of the solution.
As a large organisation and system, we inevitably face challenges when working to be inclusive across such a broad system of communities, partners, people and businesses and we don’t always get it right. When this happens, as we’ve recently experienced, we take responsibility, learn, act promptly, and commit to ongoing improvement.?
It's a journey- and it’s about changing and improving a system with many organisations and people.
We’ve come a long way and helped many and influenced many other organisations through the committed work of our people and partners – but there’s a long way still to go and we owe it to our economy and society to continue to work for a better future.?
We are meeting with, listening to, and learning from community leaders to improve inclusivity; connecting founders with investment capital through our iCURE and investor partnership programmes; investing in online platforms, providing greater access to opportunities and support from across the system. Further work is also underway to accelerate the development of?an even more representative and diverse pool of expert assessors, so that we continue to assess projects in a fair, impartial and transparent way. Over the next few months, we will be working with communities to co-design our Women in Innovation programme for 2025, using the feedback and experiences of past applicants and working in partnership to increase visibility of women innovators. This kind of collaborative, forward-thinking, ambitious approach is representative of how we want to continue moving forward.?
I am pleased that the ratio of successful women founder/innovator led applications has moved from 1 in 7 in 2016 to 1 in 3 across our Innovate UK competitions. But while I welcome this progress, I know that more must be done. Inclusion has been a key element of my leadership over the past 3.5 years, and I know that my successor, Dr Stella Peace, shares this vision for change.
The Innovate UK team also supports actions to encourage and partner with other organisations to support opportunities for greater representation and inclusion. We’re all in a big system and we all want to see the overall system improve.
There are many areas where we can create impact in building a strong, innovation led economy through increased inclusivity and better representation. Let’s acknowledge how far we’ve come on this journey, but also recognise how far we still have to go.
There is always more to do.
Together.
?Indro Mukerjee? CEO – Innovate UK
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2 个月Is it considered better representation when the Women In Innovation award was actually scored by majority men? An award aimed at women should surely be scored by majority women? Doesn’t feel as inclusive as it could Sector bias? Doesn’t feel as inclusive as it could Sadly this years WII award has highlighted what we knew all along Women get left behind Even when the odds happen to be stacked in our favour for once
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2 个月Given that a few weeks have passed since what happened, I think that it would be good to see some concrete actions being identified. This statement is full of general platitudes about listening, etc, which is quite easy to write at this point
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2 个月Thankyou for your words. When women are asked to compete to enter the existing system or understanding of innovation there is no system change. 3 points. 1. Many women tend to work collaboratively which is good for innovation. Competitions work against innovation. Dump the competitions. Kindred LCR do it. 2. You say 1 in 3 applications are now from women but not 50% of awards? Adopt a quota and you will get women innovation on thier terms and the resulting system change. The EU Open Maker program proved it well. 3. The UK Women's Budget Group evidences system change happens when women are in a majority or we join status quo or out perform the status quo on the existing terms. Reprasentation should not be the goal without quotas. Without fundamental system change in the awarding of funds the UK misses innovation that has the potential to change things rather than just continue current trajectories. That are not designed to serve the best interests of most women, most men, children, older people, or an increasingly cosmopolitan population also evident, throughout history, to accelerate innovation.
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2 个月I struggle to see how a competition like Creative Catalyst with just one assessor for each application, zero feedback for hard-working applicants and a refusal to engage in dialogue after the results are announced can be seen as in any way transparent, supportive or inclusive.