Promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in University Spinout Companies - A case for Action

领导衍生公司的女性研究人员太少。在从研究到分拆领导的创业道路上，女性研究人员在所有职业阶段的进展没有得到足够的关注。虽然与女性研究职业发展有关的挑战得到了很好的理解，但STEM社区和高等教育（HE）部门作为一个整体并不了解女性创业职业发展的途径。研究表明，大学衍生公司的创始人和联合创始人主要是男性。例如，企业研究中心（2014年）对350家活跃的英国分拆公司进行的调查发现，只有8.3%的案例中女性是主要创始人。女性创始人人数不成比例的低并不局限于英国分拆公司。爱思唯尔（Elsevier）（2017年）进行的研究比较了美国、欧盟、加拿大和澳大利亚，结果显示，尽管在专利申请中列出的发明人中，女性的全球比例从11%增加到11%，虽然从1996-2000年的14%下降到2011-2015年的14%，但在研究所包括的所有国家中，她们的代表性仍然严重不足。鼓励和理解妇女参与分拆公司对联合王国新的工业战略具有战略重要性，该战略旨在增加对科学、研究和创新的投资，并支持新的企业和增长。因此，有必要更好地了解女科学家、工程师和数学家在分拆过程和创业活动的关键阶段面临的障碍和有利因素，以便将研究和创新商业化。该项目的愿景是实现机构能力的一步变化，以增加女性研究人员在大学分支中STEM学科的参与，并将性别平等纳入推动创新的生态系统的主流。我们的项目旨在逐步改变机构能力，通过制定一系列干预措施，培养女科学家、工程师和数学家的创新和创业技能，将其发明转化为衍生公司，从而增加她们对衍生公司的参与。该项目将持续24个月，分为两个阶段。第一阶段将侧重于研究，以了解妇女在分拆中代表性不足的原因，以及个人对创新的自我认识，借鉴现有的方法。该项目的第二阶段将为各机构制定切实可行的解决方案，以创造包容性的机会，并为从研究到分拆的妇女克服障碍。我们的研究结果和最佳实践将在机构，部门，部门和个人层面与EPSRC和更广泛的社区分享。调整和提供创业领导力发展将使妇女能够发起和领导分拆，增强女科学家、工程师和数学家的创新、创业雄心、信心和能力。我们的研究结果将受到榜样、职业故事以及与成功女性分拆CEO和董事会成员的指导安排的启发。

Too few women researchers are leading spinout companies. There has not been enough attention focused on the progression of women researchers at all career stages on the entrepreneurial pathway from research to spinout leadership. Whilst challenges relating to women's research career progression are well understood, the STEM community and the Higher Education (HE) sector as a whole are not as well informed about women entrepreneurial career progression pathways to spinout. Research shows that founders and co-founders of university spinout companies are predominantly men. For example, the Enterprise Research Centre (2014) survey of a sample of 350 active UK spinouts found that women were the main founders in only 8.3% of cases. The disproportionately low numbers of women founders are not limited to UK spinouts. Research carried out by Elsevier (2017) comparing the United States, the European Union, Canada and Australia, shows that although there has been an increase in the global share of women among inventors listed in patent applications from 11% (between 1996-2000) to 14% (between 2011-2015), they remain significantly under-represented among all the countries included in the study. Encouraging and understanding women's engagement in spinout companies is of strategic importance to the UK's new Industrial Strategy which aims to increase investment in science, research and innovation and to support new businesses and growth. Therefore, there is a compelling case for better understanding barriers as well as enabling factors that exists for women scientists, engineers and mathematician in key stages of the spinout process and entrepreneurial activities to commercialise research and innovation. This project vision is to achieve a step change in institutional capabilities to increase the participation of women researchers in STEM disciplines in university spinouts and to mainstream gender in the ecosystem which drives innovation. Our project aims to achieve a step change in institutional capabilities to increase the participation of women scientists, engineers and mathematicians in spinouts through the development of a series of interventions to build their innovative and entrepreneurial skills designed to translate their inventions into spinout companies. The project will last 24 months and be articulated into two stages. Stage one will focus on research to understand the causes of women's under-representation in spinouts, and individuals' self-perception of innovation, drawing from existing methods. The second stage of the project will develop practical solutions for institutions to create inclusive opportunities and overcome the barriers for women who take the journey from research to spinout. Findings from our research and best practice will be shared with EPSRC and the wider community at institutional, sector, department and individual levels. Adaption and delivery of entrepreneurial leadership development will enable women to initiate and lead spinouts, grow innovation, entrepreneurial ambitions, confidence and competencies in women scientists engineers and mathematicians. Our findings will be inspired by role models, career stories and mentoring arrangements with successful women spinout CEOs and Board members.