Reports

Aerospace Ecosystem in the Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are preparing to support their aviation and space ecosystem with innovation and grow the sector from the islands at the national, European, and international levels.

The Directorate General for Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Balearic Islands Government, together with Collabwith, have created the first report analyzing the aerospace ecosystem of the Balearic Islands using Collabwith’s innovation ecosystem methodology and with the support of the EuroSpaceHub initiative.

Closing the Gender Investment Gap: A roadmap for a balanced and inclusive economy

This is a report summary of the 7 debates we hosted regarding the theme of women investment last year after realizing that 30% of entrepreneurs are women, but they receive only 2% of the financing available (with the pandemic, this figure has even dropped to 1%). Numbers and statistics are explaining what is happening, but not why it is happening. The 7 debates we have organized gathered the qualitative information to understand the reasons behind the dramatic numbers. After a thorough analysis, we are proud to introduce the 7 Balanced Economy Actions to overcome the unacceptable numbers and to make it happen together.

Next Generation Women Leaders in VCs and Startups: Major drivers of a sustainable future

The summit provided a valuable exchange of perspectives on sustainability, gender equality, and the role of women in Europe’s decision-making landscape. The discussions delved into recent advancements in gender equality, advocating for increased inclusion in the digital sector. Practical recommendations were shared to address the gender investment gap and support women-led startups in areas like clean energy and sustainable fashion. The focus on integrating sustainable finance into digital transformations underscored the critical contribution of women to innovation and green initiatives. The summit offered a pragmatic view of how collaboration and innovation, driven by women, can contribute to a more sustainable and equitable future for Europe.

Gender Lens Investing as a Way to Improve Gender Equality in the European Union

The EESC:

• strongly believes that by creating a fertile ground for women entrepreneurship and the adequate financial and legislative instruments, such as gender budgeting, we can create an inclusive financial ecosystem in the EU and Member States and advance faster towards gender equality;
• stresses that the EU should collect gender-disaggregated data in the European context of investments and integrate them into the annual Gender Equality Index;
• finds it important to provide women with more networking and training opportunities and mentoring programmes. In addition to this, the EESC stresses the importance of education in challenging gender stereotypes and in building an entrepreneurial culture that prepares women to think big;
• suggests that diversity of teams with a specific focus on women should be a criterion for receiving public funding. It is important to set specific standards so as to avoid “pinkwashing”;

Brussels Declaration: A European Manifesto for Gender Equality

Following up on the Berlin Declaration in 2011, our Brussels Declaration is aiming to increase gender equality throughout Europe. This initiative strives for implementation and monitoring of gender equality in our political, institutional, economical and social life.

We want to start a discussion with the decision makers at the European level and be their sparring partners for:

• Entrepreneurship and start-ups
• Investment and funding
• Equal responsibility for family related duties
• Change of mindset driven by education

Report of the Innovation Ecosystem: Canvas for Space and Aviation

The European industry sector has undergone a drastic development in the last years,
following the advent of the digital transformation, green transformation, manufacturing 5.0.
Knowledge and technology are now more accessible than it was a decade ago, and this has
fostered its interest from an industrial and educational perspective. For instance, only the
European deep tech economy is already valued EUR 50 billion and the research in deep tech,
digital and sustainable technologies is one of the priority areas covered by the Industrial
Leadership and Societal Challenges of Horizon Europe. European Commission, EIF, EIB Group join forces to boost innovation ecosystem and innovation with investment with EUR 200 million of financing. However, only 40% of the public funds are leveraged and not used by industry or universities. The idea of the innovation ecosystems should be to leverage this financing structure from different funding opportunities with a strong access to the i innovation ecosystem actors and opportunities via collaboration structures and connectivity. In that context, the European Commission has recently announced a new European Innovation Agenda and identified 25 dedicated actions under five flagships.

AIOTI WG Innovation Ecosystems

AIOTI WG Innovation Ecosystems prepared a White Paper Supporting Ecosystem Engagement for Sustainable Innovation empowered by IoT and Edge Computing which was presented on the webinar held on 7 December.