D2.1e Gendered Innovations

Gendered innovations – innovations in which the gender dimension is integrated into all aspects of the R&D process and which therefore go beyond mere female representation – are gaining popularity in the contemporary innovation discourse. However, despite significant advances in the last years, the literature on gendered innovations remains fragmented, inconsistent and limited. Gendered innovations are not (yet) well established, particularly in the private sector, which has also proven relatively inactive in equality-oriented innovation policies and in many countries has not been subject to binding legislation.

Addressing an urgent need for more comprehensive knowledge about i) the systematic integration of gender aspects – in particular from an intersectional lens – across the different stages of the innovation process and ii) ways to strengthen content-related gender aspects in innovation processes, we conducted a strategic assessment of research on gendered innovations and relevant gendered innovation policies in the business enterprise sector (BES). The analysis is based on a scoping review of 122 documents comprising scientific articles, grey literature and policy documents in 2010-2022. The analysis considers social and cultural factors that enable or hinder the implementation of gendered innovations within companies or innovation clusters. We additionally adopt a feminist and a decolonial approach in the review, with attention to geographies and power relations of knowledge production.