Innovation means creating something new, and this is easier where diversity prevails. Diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, experience, perspectives, knowledge and networks brings about creative, innovative environments.
It is individual people who are able to develop their full potential who provide ideas, commitment and risk-taking. I am glad that we have been able to do this in our own organisation and in collaboration with other stakeholders who have contributed to the portal.
VINNOVA is a Swedish government agency intended to promote sustainable growth and prosperity throughout the country.
Innovation connected with research and development is VINNOVA’s sphere of responsibility. We invest in the research that a competitive business sector and a prosperous society need, and strengthen the networks that are essential for this work. For our society to prosper, we need to make use of the diverse array of skills and experience it includes — and gender is central here. We also have an assignment from the Government to help ensure that a gender perspective is reflected in research and to promote equality between the sexes in our sphere of activities.
We are developing our gender-equality efforts on the basis of gender studies, as an area of expertise, and integrating a gender perspective into our work. In addition, we engage in special initiatives addressing women, such as women’s careers in the academic world and women entrepreneurs. This dual strategy has been our way of working since the agency was established in 2001.
Gender perspectives in research have been more prominent in humanities and social sciences, and less so in technology, natural sciences and medicine. Since we primarily fund research in technological fields, we have a special role to play in this area. The research areas of technology and natural sciences are ones traditionally dominated by men, and this is reflected in the fact that the proportion of women applying for grants from VINNOVA is too low.
By broadening programmes and calls for funding applications to include disciplines, sectors and activities in which women are represented to a greater extent, and also to pay attention to the gender of planned end users, we expect the proportion of women to increase. Even more important, however, is the innovative thinking that should result from a gender perspective on funding calls and programmes.
Innovation is a matter of questioning what we take for granted challenging the norm. The capacity for innovation is inhibited by normative thinking and action regarding gender — or, in other words, stereotyped thinking about women and men.
A narrow view of innovation means that we tend to see innovation as something that emerges in certain sectors and culminates in products. But innovation is a great deal more: it may consist in new methods, products, production processes, services, technologies, experiences, ideologies and educational methods.
Our function is, in cooperation with others, to enhance growth and prosperity in Sweden. Our collaboration regarding mainstreaming of gender perspectives and gender equality with Jämi (the Gender Mainstreaming Programme), the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and the Thematic Group on Equality means that we are contributing to the objective. At the same time, numerical gender equality is on the increase and our capacity for innovation is no longer inhibited by prevailing normative thinking about gender. It is our hope that Jamstall.nu can now also make a contribution to people’s everyday lives and support their efforts in mainstreaming of gender perspectives and gender equality.
Charlotte Brogren
Director General, VINNOVA
Translation: Clare James