18 October, 2021

The 18th and 19th were auspicious days for the WeRin project. A blended WeRin Think tank was organised by our UIIN partners, with some partners attending in person and some online. The Irish partners were ably represented by the Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence, the Rubicon and by our Irish partners, Momentum, who are based in County Leitrim. Our first in-person visitors to the Hincks Centre were Orla Casey and Samantha Carthy from Momentum and we were delighted to welcome them and work with them over the two days.

First, each partner presented the highlights of their research so far. Dr. Sarah Davis, the Hincks Centre's Senior Researcher and WeRin Lead, reported from the results in Ireland with a focus on the Cork region. The reporting format took the form of a SWOT analysis with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats highlighted in each region’s women’s entrepreneurship. The consortium identified many common areas of overlap as well as certain regional differences across the partners’ reports. This report phase fed into a think tank to identify problems and propose solutions that can be taken forward both within the WeRin project itself and within the regions to improve ecosystem inclusivity. A full and busy day ended with us proposing solutions and working on the next steps towards upcoming regional think tanks, to replicate the international think tank with all of the WeRin consortium.

The following day saw an early start and a recap on the highlights from our brainstorming sessions. A full project meeting then ensued, and our session finished with plans to prepare for the regional think tanks.

Hincks are now planning their online local think tank for Ireland and will be recruiting support from women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship educators, entrepreneurship programme managers and students who are involved in entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship education on campus. We have set the date, the 23rd November so save some time to help us make a gender inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

To learn more about WeRin Project, visit the European Projects section of our website.