- IMPROVE - impact of gender on innovation Wiebke Schone November 2011
About the project Project EFFINET: EFFiciency and INnovativion power of homogeneous and heterogeneous inventor teams in R&D Analysis of the work environment and conditions in gender homogeneous and gender heterogeneous inventor teams in R&D Homogeneous male inventor teams Homogeneous female inventor teams new Heterogeneous inventor teams, male dominated Heterogeneous inventor teams, gender balanced
About the project Do gender homogeneous and gender heterogeneous teams in R&D differ in their work conditions, their efficiency and their innovative power? Research methods Statistical analysis of the European patent database Qualitative approach (20 expert interviews) Quantitative research (online survey with ~400 respondents)
female inventors The European perspective Percentage of female researchers and inventors in the EU (2003) 20,0% 18,0% SI 16,0% 14,0% HU DK PL ES 12,0% FI FR 10,0% 8,0% IT EU BE CZ SE 6,0% 4,0% NL AT DE LU IE 2,0% 0,0% 0,0% 5,0% 10,0% 15,0% 20,0% 25,0% 30,0% female researchers AT BE CZ DK FI FR DE HU IE IT LU NL PL SI ES SE EU (100% = sum of male and female researchers or inventors)
Survey results: child care (Germany) female 67% 3% 3% 27% total "I work part-time/ home office/parental leave" male 5% 4% 5% 87% 60 85 I take/took use of "My partner takes care of the children" female 19% 21% 9% 51% 53 I take/took use of occasionally/partly I would like to take use of/i would have liked to take use of however it is not/was not available I do not take/took use of male 81% 12% 1% 6% 122 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Survey results: influence of child care on own innovation power (Germany) Yes, very much 22 % 64 % Yes 45 % 58 % Rather not 21 % 52 % female male No 15 % 33 % I don't know 5 % 10 % 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 total female: 150 total male: 175
Survey results: influence of child care on own innovation power (Germany) 28% 30% 22% 11% 9% equally balanced 32% 29% 18% 15% 6% male dominated yes, a lot yes rather not homogeneous men 10% 40% 32% 15% 3% no don't know 39% 27% 20% 14% homogeneous women 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Results There is an obvious gap between the percentage of female researchers and female inventors all across Europe Childcare has a direct and significant impact on the female inventors innovation power (while hardly influencing the male inventors) In heterogeneous teams, there are different needs and priorities! In order to optimize the team performance, the organization, but also the individual in the team, needs to Gain awareness of the different needs Identify these individual needs Establish appropriate measures to meet the needs of each individual
Concret steps to take I M P R O V E Innovation encouragement Manage Diversity Project team building Reintegrate experts Organize mentoring Value networking Enhance efficiency
Thank you
Concret steps to take Innovation encouragement Encourage active envolvment of junior researchers in the innovation process Promote diversity in teams Manage Diversity Encourage team members to perceive and communicate their personal requirments Secure strategic competitive advantage through the wise use of diversity Establish target agreements for management for adoptation of diversity
Concret steps to take Project team building Train managers on the management of team processes and in dealing with different needs within the team Create transparent achievement- and assessment criteria Reintegrate experts Maintain regular communication between inventors on parental leave and their research team Integrate inventors on parental leave into project planning Encourage parental leave by both parents
Concret steps to take Organize mentoring Support junior scientists with regard to transforming their inventions into patents Organize meet & greet between young professionals and old hands Value networking Provide time for spontaneous communication and networking within the project planning Critically examine common communication structures, e.g. late afternoon team meetings Enhance efficiency Relieve researcheres from administraive tasks Actively design and manage a pool of knowledge across the organization
Survey results: amount of children hom. Male 13% 17% 63% 8% hom. Female 42% 27% 31% 78 no children het. Male dominated 36% 17% 45% 2% 55 1 child 2-3 childrem 119 more than 3 children het. Balanced 35% 13% 48% 4% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 54
Team culture 30.0% 55.0% 10.0% 3.0% 1.0% total appreciation of team collegues 20% 60% 17% 2% 1% 146 169 work-life balance 12% 39% 39% 8% 2% 143 2% 40% 44% 9% 5% 167 regular communication and meetings 17% 30% 53% 52% 24% 16% 2% 5% 1% 147 169 spontaneous discussions 36% 58% 5% 1% 146 very important important 48% 48% 4% 167 no impact not important 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% not important at all
Influence of heterogenity on innovation 89% 86% 100% 86% 77% 81% 90% 67% 80% 74% 70% 66% 57% 60% 52% 30% 42% 22% 48% 50% 40% Age Gender Profession Experience Nationality 30% 20% 10% 32% 8% 12% 12% 16% 24% 2% 1% 3% 3% 2% 3% Nationality Experience 0% 1% Profession Männer Frauen (strongly) increases Männer Frauen no impact 2% Männer 1% Frauen Gender Age senkt decreases