Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen Solheim (p)

The global megatrends shaping the world today, requires tapping into diversity in a broad sense. Gender Equality and Diversity are linked to innovation, financial performance, and providing sustainable solutions. Moreover, diversity is crucial for policymaking, as it allows for a wider range of perspectives fostering more effective decision-making.
Nevertheless, extant research has highlighted barriers for tapping into diverse potential, such as barriers for obtaining venture capital for females and ethnic minorities. The geographic dimension is coloring mechanisms of inclusion such as typical barriers in specialized innovation systems being strong networks between a fixed set of local actors, which might hamper alternative ideas and competence, whilst diversified innovation systems are colored by fragmentation potentially hindering knowledge exchange between actors.
In her talk, Solheim reflects upon some of the barriers of including a diverse set of actors in innovation, and the contextual factors affecting this, as well as highlighting broader inclusion practices.