Sparsely populated areas in the Nordic countries are generally marked by depopulation and an ageing remaining population. It is often the young women who leave these areas for urban centres and the capitals. Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and innovation are of great importance and a prerequisite for a sustainable economic and regional development in the rural and sparsely populated areas of the Nordic countries.
Women's entrepreneurship is of special interest since there is a large untapped potential among them to increase the number of entrepreneurs and sustainable firms, since the women entrepreneurs are so few in the Nordic, rural areas today. Policy tools for supporting women's entrepreneurship and innovation might also give women a possibility to develop their own ideas, working life and economic incomes and maintenance.
This project aims at developing policy tools for supporting women's entrepreneurship and innovation in the sparsely populated areas of the Nordic countries. The tool will be developed based on analyses of previous research, policy tool work, identification of and analyses of 'best practice' in the Nordic countries. The project will be carried out during 2009-2010 and is led by Sigrid Hedin and Katarina Pettersson, Nordregio. It will be performed in collaboration with researchers from other Nordic countries and the Nordic Innovation Centre (NICe).
Download Paper from the Conference Gender, Work and Organization at Keele University in June 2010.