Woman innovators are game changers

Bifrost Summit is approaching and we are very happy to have Annie Lindmark and Moa Persdotter in the team organizing side events focusing on diversity. Hear Annie and Moa talking about why woman are game changers.

March 8, International Women’s Day, Nordic Taskforce for Diversity, organize a Bifrost Summit Side Event. Can you tell us bit more what we can expect? -The event is arranged through Nordic Innovations task force for diversity. Our objectives are to create Nordic synergies and share best practices on how to contribute to a more gender-equal innovation ecosystem.

The theme of the event is “Women innovators are game changers”. During the event we want to highlight and identify key impact areas where investors, corporates and tech founders can promote untapped entrepreneurial potential.?It is also to identify possible ways of collaboration between founders and investors in the US and the Nordics to create a more diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystem. We want the participants to leave the event with new ideas and concrete actions on what we need - and can do already today to change and improve the situation. Because change needs to happen now!

The New-Nordics is often described as frontrunner in diversity – what’s your opinion on that??

- The Nordic countries are viewed as frontrunners on gender equality and women’s participation in the labor market.?Over the years, the gender gap in education has been closing in most developed economies. The employment and wage gaps for women are also narrowing, but not fast enough. Just in Sweden women in general works for free 45 min per day when comparing wage gaps between men and women. There are also far fewer women than men starting businesses in the Nordic countries, which means the gender gap in entrepreneurship prevails.??

Lack of equality and diversity in the Nordic innovation ecosystem is a missed opportunity for value creation and more equal societies. As entrepreneurship is considered one of the key drivers for sustainable system transformation, the rise of more diverse entrepreneurs plays an important role for economic growth and innovation.??

In many tech sectors there’s still some work to be done for better diversity- how do we speed up that process? -We need to understand that diversity is complex and not a quick fix. Changes are required at a system level. If we are to achieve a sustainable future in time, we must think and cooperate in new ways. Diversity and gender equality is not a “nice to have” or an add on, it is something that is fundamental to integrate in everything from talent recruitment to innovation processes and target customer's needs. An openness to re-learn and to improve is needed from the whole tech sector.

What do you think the New-Nordics can learn from Silicon Valley and vice versa? -The Silicon Valley mindset of thinking very big and visionary is inspiring and something to look up to! The Bay area also has a long history of close collaboration and dialogue between the universities and the tech companies, securing new talent and competences, something we think the New-Nordics can learn from. On the other hand, the Nordic countries rank high on innovation and gender equality indexes – the combination is a Nordic value, a competitive edge that is being expressed by women and underrepresented entrepreneurs founding impact startups. These are startups with social sustainability perspectives integrated in the core of their business model and value proposition, which we think Silicon Valley can learn from.

How can the integration of norm-critical and intersectional analyzes untap potential and create impact??- By analyzing norms and taking an intersectional view on societal problems, we open up to new ways of thinking and possible futures. During Bifrost we want to scale knowledge on how to - why another event is crucial to highlight in this context. In collaboration with US Stanford University, Vinnova invites startup teams to an exclusive workshop on the 9th of March, giving the participants an opportunity to improve their knowledge and capacity to analyze their business case from an inclusive, norm-critical, and intersectional design approach.

What are you most looking forward to during Bifrost Summit in March? ?

-To share best practices and start a conversation on gender equality and inclusive innovation processes in an international context through the event 8th of March, and by so open for action and innovation that makes a difference during the event 9th of March.

Stay tuned for program and sign-up for all Bifrost Summit events → www.bifrostsummit.com

Learn more about Nordic Innovation's program for Diversity and Inclusion