inclusion

Two recently released indices assess countries and cities on the characteristics that enable female entrepreneurship. The 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index finds the U.S., Australia, the U.K., Denmark and the Netherlands offer the world’s most attractive environments for high-potential female entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, the Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities Index ranks New York City, California’s Bay Area, London, Stockholm and Singapore as the top cities for female entrepreneurship. These indices may be useful to policymakers who are limited in their knowledge of the conditions that enable entrepreneurship, especially among females and other underrepresented communities.

Although many leaders of high-tech incubator and accelerator programs do not currently offer targeted programs to ensure inclusivity of all populations, they have conveyed they would like to do so, according to new research from the Initiative for the Competitive Inner City (ICIC), with financial support from JP Morgan Chase. The research brief, which was unveiled this week as part of Detroit’s Startup Week, draws on interviews with more than 75 entrepreneurship, incubator and accelerator program managers to identify barriers to inclusivity and present potential strategies that could increase the participation rates of women and minority entrepreneur.

Wells Fargo & Company released a five-year, company-wide corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy that includes significant commitments to inclusion, innovation, small business lending, and community investment. Its 2020 social commitment will target three commitment areas – diversity and social inclusion; economic empowerment; and, economic sustainability. Proposed funding includes:

Only 8 percent of partners with the authority to invest at 2,300 micro- and venture capital (VC) firms are women (and only 7 percent of the top 100 firms), according to CrunchBase Women in Venture, a new report providing a detailed snapshot of the state of female investors and founders. The report finds of 54 corporate VC divisions and 101 accelerators, 12 percent of partners were female. The report did find some possible signs of improvement; among 826 VC firms with “deep teams,” 22 percent of lower-titled employees are women, suggesting that opportunities for promotion to partner may yield better balance, and among new micro- and VC firms in the last three years, 16 percent, or 20 of 125, had at least one female partner—double the rate among existing firms. Women in Venture also examined the amount of funding going to companies with at least one female founder and reports that from 2010-2015, 10 percent, or $31.5 billion, of VC funding went to companies with at least one female founder, compared to 17 percent, or $2.4 billion, of seed funding. The report examined whether firms with female investors were more likely to invest in startups with female founders and found no real evidence of this connection.

Several recent studies have identified the roadblocks that females face in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. These two roadblocks include gender bias in the classroom and too few mentors in K-16 STEM fields. In an attempt to increase opportunities for females in STEM education, both federal and foundation funders have announced programs that will increase scholarship and internship opportunities for young women in STEM fields.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it would commit up to $12.5 million in pilot grants to test novel ways of broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NSF INCLUDES will make up to 40 two-year, pilot awards to support STEM efforts that improve the preparation, increase the participation, and ensure the contributions of individuals from groups that traditionally have been underserved and/or underrepresented in the STEM including women, blacks, Hispanics, and people with disabilities. In the FY17 budget proposal, NSF has requested $16 million for larger, five-year alliance awards according to Sciencemag.org. The new initiative was originally proposed in Broadening Participation in America’s STEM Workforce – a 2012 report from an outside committee that advises NSF on diversity issues. Interested parties must submit their pre-proposals by April 15, 2016. More information is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16544/nsf16544.htm?org=NSF. 

Immigrants play a significant role in American innovation, while women and minorities are underrepresented, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In the report, the authors utilize a survey of more than 900 individuals who have contributed to the development of a notable technological innovation from 2011 to 2014, allowing them to gain additional insight on items such as their gender, ethnicity, education, funding sources, and age.

Funded through a small tax on extramural research budgets, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards are offered by 11 federal agencies with an overall goal of backing innovation by small businesses. With a typical maximum of $150,000 for phase I awards and $1 million for phase II awards, SBIR programs have had varying degrees of success – especially when factoring in their explicit mandate to enhance opportunities for women and minorities. In particular, National Institute of Health (NIH) SBIR awards have struggled to reach underserved audiences, according to a new study by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Women received significantly less financial support from biomedical research institutions than men early in their careers, according to Sex Differences in Institutional Support for Junior Biomedical Researchers – a study by Health Resources in Action’s Medical Foundation published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In the study, researchers found that that employers gave newly hired men researchers a median of $889,000 to purchase equipment and other laboratory costs, compared to $350,000 for women scientists. For individuals with Ph.D., the gap grew even larger with $936,000 in funding for men versus $348,000 for women. Forty percent of men received over $1 million to launch their careers, compared to only 12 percent of women. In addition to this large gap in funding, women are underrepresented at the top levels of biomedical research comprising only 30 percent of funded investigators. Read the study…

Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto announced the launch of the Pittsburgh Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation, a strategic plan that is intended to support economic growth and the equitable access to technology, city resources, and information. The roadmap includes three primary goals that include: