10 June, 2022

Our very first all-partner, in-person meeting for the Erasmus+ WeRin project took place on the 10th June 2022 in Impact Hub, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. All partners found their way to Linnaeusstraat 2C where we were welcomed and ably hosted by Margot Kemps of Impact Hub. A full agenda was planned. Dr Sarah Davis represented MTU's Hincks Centre and Rubicon Centre. Other partners travelled from Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Germany to this transnational partner meeting for the Women Entrepreneurs in Regional Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (WeRin) Project.

The WeRin project has being going from strength to strength and our lead partner, Sue Rossano-Rivera from Munster University of Applied Sciences in Germany, welcomed us and celebrated the many successes that the WeRin consortium has already achieved during the first year and a half of this important inclusivity project. These successes included meeting the ambitious project milestones, exceeding our dissemination quota, and being awarded a SocialEU award for our dissemination plan. Partners have also been busy disseminating the project information and findings at peer reviewed conferences, such as the ECSB’s RENT and 3e conferences, with submissions to Academy of Management and Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conferences.

WeRin's work-to-date was reviewed. Led by Saskia Stoker from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the partners are bringing the third work package of data collection about the current entrepreneurial ecosystems to a successful conclusion, with the final outstanding element to provide cases of good practice.

Much progress has been made with the fourth work package, with principles for an inclusive ecosystem agreed by all partners. The next stage in this fourth work package, which is led by Kristina Detelj of the University of Zagreb, focuses on development of a WeRin Knowledge Port that supports the principles we have identified for an inclusive ecosystem. The partners will begin to populate a curated knowledge port of information and develop a a training approach that can be used to navigate the resources for gender inclusive ecosystems. A key part of the fourth work package will be the design of psychological nudges and this is planned to be conducted with students in a design exercise before or within the up-coming semester.The Hincks Centre will lead the upcoming fifth work package which will work on capacity building and develop a community of practice for gender inclusive entrepreneurial education ecosystems.

As our other work packages are progressing, we are due to submit our first interim report to the EC at the end of June 2022.

WeRin has accomplished a great deal and already produced a large number of outputs (Role Model Exemplars, a Literature Review, Regional Reports) with the support of our partners, our institutions and our networks, and we are ambitious to achieve more and support women in our entrepreneurial ecosystems. We have been delighted and grateful for the support of this Erasmus+ WeRin project. Keep in touch and share your views!

Further information about the WeRin project is available in the European Projects section of our website.

WeRin Website: https://werinproject.eu/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-r-in, Twitter: www.twitter.com/WeRinproject