The FEMINA partners and stakeholders met for its third convention in Grimstad, Norway. The convention was a two-day event to further project work, exchange good practices and start work on regional Action Plans. The convention was hosted by Advisory Partner, GCE NODE, on the 24th and 25th of October 2019.
The first day started with an Exchange Session where partners reviewed learning activities carried out so far and started focusing on Action Plans. The Expert Seminar took place in the form of a conference open to external participants. The conference was themed “Gender Gap Closure = Gender Closure” and aimed at showing different perspectives on how to close the gender gap av the values that can be unlocked by doing so. The conference had speakers from the industry initiated women’s network Node Eyde Women, Kilden Gender research, the regional innovation- and incubator company Innoventus Sør, as well as the regional trainee program Trainee South as a practical example of how to attract and retain competence in regions – and at the same time ensuring gender balance.
The second day of the convention consisted of a visit to the Mechatronics Innovation Lab, a world-leading center for innovation, pilot testing, and technology qualification within mechatronics and related fields. The partners also visited Hokus Pokus Kindergarten, a childcare service provided by the student association of Agder for its students and staff. The kindergarten is known for working thoroughly and systematically in breaking down gender stereotypes and introducing the children to more options. The kindergarten received an award for their work on equality in 2006.
The project partners and stakeholders also participated in a Good Practice Transfer Workshop where five Good Practices were introduced to the partners and systematically reviewed on how suitable they were for regional contexts with other partners. The Good Practices presented were Donne in Quota (Arezzo), EMPOWA (Sterea Ellada), Elite Business Women (Bucharest Ilfov), STEM Talent Girls (Cantabria Region), and Dutch Technology Pact 2020 (CMO STAMM)
