Social EU Award for the best editorial plan for WeRin - Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre

18 February 2022 | Münster

Enhancing the inclusivity of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and embeddedness of female entrepreneurs therein, through the design of more inclusive academic and non-academic entrepreneurship education and support programmes -this is the goal of the project WeRin - Women Entrepreneurs in Regional Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems led by Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre. Now the WeRin team has won the Social EU Award.

"Social EU is another Erasmus+ project co-funded by the EU. It aims to encourage projects to make the best use of social media to reach their respective target groups. Social media is an important tool for reaching our target group, i.e. female students who are aspiring to start their venture, female entrepreneurs and leaders. We want to inspire, inform and facilitate networking in this way," explains Junior Professor Dr. Sue Rossano-Rivero, WeRin project director and Deputy Director of the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre. After all, networking is crucial in entrepreneurship. To this end, the "WeRin" team uses the social networks LinkedIn and Twitter, receiving support from WeRin partner momentum [educate + innovate], which manages the social media strategy. "All of the 'WeRin' partners are very active on LinkedIn and Twitter, all writing blog articles or sharing the latest developments in our project," Rossano-Rivero said. So it's worthwhile for entrepreneurship educators, (aspiring) female entrepreneurs, representatives from Higher Education Institutions, and other support organisations to follow the project on social media.

To make the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurship education more inclusive - that is, more inviting and easier to access - 14 European project partners have joined forces to form "WeRin." Among them are Münster University of Applied Sciences (Lead Partner), Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (Germany), Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands), University Industry Innovation Network (The Netherlands), University of Zagreb (Croatia), Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland), Istanbul Technical University (Turkey), Momentum Consulting (Ireland), European Center for Women and Technology (Norway), Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft Steinfurt mbH (Germany, Impact Hub Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Technology park Varazdin (Croatia), ARI Teknokent Proje Gelistirme Planlama (Turkey) and Rubicon Centre (Ireland).

PhD Candidate and research associate Iulia Stroila explains why the project is so relevant: "In Germany, the current rate of start-ups founded by women is only 17 per cent. Yet women make up about 60 per cent of university graduates." Stroila, who earned her master's degree at Münster University of Applied Sciences' School of Business (MSB), is writing her doctoral thesis on "Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Well-Being". In the WeRin project, she is the lead researcher. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems, the nexus of social, political, economic and cultural elements within a region that foster the development and growth of innovative start-ups, are male-dominated. For example, female entrepreneurs have more difficulty getting funding. According to a study in Harvard Business Review from 2019, they are more likely to be asked about loss risk in pitch talks, while men are more likely to be asked about profit potential". The WeRin team aims to shape the entrepreneurship environment so that women are welcomed and have equal access to human, financial, and knowledge capital.

In the research phase, the WeRin team conducted more than 300 interviews with ecosystem stakeholders, collected 15 best cases on inclusion in entrepreneurship and identified more than 15 profiles of role models from six European regions. These short presentations can already be used as teaching materials and can be found on the project's website at werinproject.eu as "Role Model Profiles." Now they are working on solutions. "Based on the research results, we are developing an inclusive entrepreneurship training course-WeRLearnIn Approach-that we plan to implement with female students and collect feedback from the users, educators/mentors and stakeholders involved. It will facilitate the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills of aspiring female entrepreneurs and female founders in an inclusive way; WeRLearnIn Approach can be used after validation by Higher Education Institutions and other entrepreneurship support organisations," says Stroila.