Detta projekt innebär att ta fram en forskningsagenda för och tillsammans med gruvsektorn. Projektet pågår 2012-2013 med finansiering från VINNOVA. Ylva Fältholm är projektledare. Agendan ska integreras med gruvindustrins övergripande agenda (där arbetet leds av Nordic Roch Tech Center)

The Swedish mining industry experiences a major production and economic boost and Luleå University of Technology (LTU) has established itself as Europe’s leading mining university. Together they are, along with other actors in society, a leading innovation system. This innovation system, however, face a number of challenges, such as recruitment problems, demand for new technology and research, mining communities that need be upgraded and restructured and unequal, gendered work, organizations and innovation policy initiatives.In this paper we present a gender aware research and innovation agenda in the mining sector, which aims to create more gender equal innovation and thus contribute to a socially sustainable and internationally competitive development of the Swedish mining sector. The agenda, a result of interactive collaboration between the project team, LTU mining researchers and actors from e.g. LKAB, Boliden AB, Northland resources as well as The County Council of Norrbotten and the local communities, contains a list of tentative projects, defined by the innovation system. Some examples of projects are; Key roles of middle management for a gender equal mining industry, Gender patterns among mining entrepreneur companies, Gender aware and strategic recruitment, promotion and retention practices in the mining industry and Attractive and gender equal mining communities. The long-¬‐term vision, defined by the innovation system, is that the Swedish mining industry is a field of excellence, that the industry is well known for being world-¬‐class at breaking ore and gender patterns, that gender aware organizations and workplace cultures are created and sustained for efficiency, productivity and innovation as well as that regions and communities are characterized by economic growth, openness, tolerance and collaboration between mining companies and society. Drawing on theories and reflections on “undoing gender”, “degendering” and “gender toning down” we will in the paper also introduce a discussion on the relations between global mining industry, work organizations (mining companies, entrepreneur companies), labour unions, other actors, surrounding local communities and regional context etc. when it comes to doing and constructions of masculinities.

Purpose

In Sweden, gender mainstreaming policies have a long political history. As part of the national gender equality strategy of the Swedish forest industry, the ten largest forestry companies committed themselves to gender mainstream their policies. Limiting the impact of policies and the agency of change, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the varied and conflicting meanings and constitution of the concepts, the problem and, in extent, the organisational realities of gender mainstreaming.

Design/methodology/approach

In both, implementation and practice, gender mainstreaming posse challenges on various levels and by analysing these documents as practical texts from the WPR-approach. This paper explores constructions of gender and gender equality and their implications on the practice and the political of gender mainstreaming in a male-dominated primary industry.

Findings

The results show that the organisations themselves were not constituted as the subject of the policy but instead some of the individuals (women). The subject position of women represented in company policy was one of lacking skills and competences and in the need of help. Not only men and the masculine norms but organisational processes and structures were also generally invisible in the material. Power and conflict were mainly absent from the understanding of gender equality. Instead, consenting ideas of gender equality were the focus. Such conceptualisations of gender equality are beneficial for all risk concealing power structures and thereby limit the political space for change.

Originality/value

By highlighting the scale of policy and the significance of organisational contexts, the results indicate how gender and gender equality are constitutive through the governing technologies of neoliberal and market-oriented ideologies in policy – emphasising the further limiting of space for structural change and politicalization within the male-dominated organisations of Swedish forest industry.

Vad är genusdriven social innovation och vilken betydelse har det för nytänkande organisations- och samhällsutveckling? Det är de frågor som denna orienteringsbok ska belysa. Samtidigt som Sveriges, EUs och OECDs nya innovationspolitik uppmuntrar utvecklingen av sociala innovationer för att hantera aktuella samhällsutmaningar såsom arbetslöshet, fattigdom, demografiska förändringar m.m. och allt fler forskare har börjat studera denna sorts innovation saknas det tillräcklig kunskap och erfarenhet kring denna typ av innovationer ur ett genusperspektiv. Den långa traditionen av att i svensk forskning, politik och praktik synliggöra, analysera och förändra genusmönster i organisationer och samhälle kan användas som en språngbräda för att utveckla sådan kunskap. Genom att ge praktiska exempel på genusdriven social innovation i Sverige ska denna orienteringsbok öka förmågan hos landets innovationsfrämjande aktörer att stötta förverkligandet av socialt nytänkande idéer för jämställdhet i näringslivet, arbetslivet, kulturlivet, privatlivet etc. I slutet av boken analyseras hur exemplen bidrar till en jämställd samhällsutveckling genom sina innovativa sätt att identifiera behov, utveckla lösningar och skapa förändring.

VAD ÄR SOCIAL INNOVATION I NORRBOTTEN? Det är den fråga som denna orienteringsbok ska besvara. Boken ger särskilt exempel på hur social innovation – i betydelsen av nya varor, tjänster metoder m.m. som är utvecklade på ett socialt inkluderande sätt och som leder till social förändring – kan vara en väg till jämlik och jämställd regional tillväxt. De exempel som presenteras i boken har hämtats från en rad olika organisationer och verksamheter i Norrbotten, med särskilt fokus på Sunderby folkhögskola, Hushållningssällskapet i Norrbotten, Hela Sverige Ska Leva Norrbotten, Coompanion Nord, Winnet Norrbotten och Magma.

Idag ser vi hur kyrkan ställer om sina verksamheter för att hantera aktuella samhällsutmaningar såsom flyktingströmmar, fattigdom, hemlöshet och andra former av social exkludering. Det finns en mängd exempel på hur kyrkan utvecklar innovativa arbetssätt för att möta olika sociala behov i den vardagliga verksamheten. Begreppet social innovation kan bidra till att synliggöra och förstärka kyrkans innovativa utveckling av sociala arbetssätt och metoder inom och mellan organisations- och sektorsgränser. Det kan därigenom bidra till att förtydliga kyrkans förändrade roll i samhället, exempelvis vad gäller dess bidrag till lokal och regional utveckling. Vi vill här beskriva den satsning som forskningsenheten inlett på att kartlägga och analysera social innovation i Svenska kyrkans nutida och historiska verksamheter.

Social innovation – referring to the development and implementation of new social practices

to improve the quality of life, well-being, relations and empowerment of individuals

and communities – shares similarities with the diaconal work performed as part of Christian

social practices and the welfare services provided by Christian communities and parishes.

Based on the results from a study of innovative social practices in the Church of Sweden,

this article scrutinizes the character of a selection of historical and contemporary examples

of social innovation in the Church, in order to further develop the knowledge of how to develop

new forms of diaconal work related to welfare services as the societal context changes.

By pinpointing the content, process, empowerment, innovation and normativity of social

innovation, the analysis highlights pivotal components in the transition from social exclusion

to social inclusion in the Church’s specific settings.

Brännande samhällsutmaningar i form av bland annat segregation, ohälsa och ekologisk obalans skapar efterfrågan på nytänkande lösningar som inte bara följer en ekonomisk logik utan också är socialt och miljömässigt hållbara. I antologin presenteras aktuell svensk forskning om social innovation för hållbar utveckling, med koppling till Agenda 2030. Forskare från olika discipliner och lärosäten belyser detta i förhållande till exempelvis stadsutveckling, arbetslivsinkludering, naturbaserad rehabilitering och skola. Hybridorganisering, samverkan mellan olika aktörer och en ny samhällsekonomisk styrning tas också upp. Tillsammans ger antologins kapitel en bild av det växande forskningsfältet social innovation, med tillämpning mot hållbar utveckling. Därmed diskuteras potentialen i att sammanföra dessa perspektiv för att stärka bidragen till vetenskaplig och praktisk utveckling. 

Social innovation för hållbar utveckling riktar sig till forskare, studenter och praktiker inom innovationsområdet, exempelvis innovatörer, innovationsfrämjare, politiker och tjänstepersoner, samt andra intresserade.Boken är framtagen i samarbete med Mötesplats Social Innovation.

This paper examines a digital employee-oriented innovation program at a global IT-firm. It addresses the research question: how is the generation and promotion of employee ideas organised by the management, and what are the behavioural implications in terms of participation of such an organising? Drawing on the literature on inclusive innovation and employee-driven innovation, the authors explore the extent to which ordinary employees are included in innovative processes at work. The critical discourse analysis of written and spoken text exposes inclusiveness concerning the managements’ production and distribution of innovation discourse in the initial phases of the program. However, the analysis simultaneously reveals considerable excluding elements in the ordinary employees’ consumption of this discourse in its latter phases, particularly regarding the parallel discourses “we are all innovators” and “the single winning entrepreneur”.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge about the mechanisms behind, and the implications of, varying involvement in digitally enhanced employee-driven innovation (EDI) by studying how a firm integrates a web-based tool in the organization of its EDI process. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a qualitative in-depth interview study with managers and employees at one high-performing and one low-performing office of a global IT firm, a critical discourse analysis was performed. It explored how the EDI discourse was produced, distributed and consumed in relation to the web-based tool for collecting and selecting employee ideas. Findings: The results demonstrate that the production of the innovation discourse by the top-level management, which emphasizes client satisfaction rather than employee engagement, restricts the employees’ utilization of the digital platform that distributes the discourse. However, at the high-performing office, employee participation is ensured because the local managers act as co-distributors of the digital tool. Research limitations/implications: The single case study design limits the generalizability of the results, but is nevertheless relevant for understanding the mechanisms and implications in similar contexts where web-based tools are used to enhance EDI processes. Practical implications: The study provides practical insights into the importance of local management’s active promotion of digital tools in order to ensure employee involvement. Originality/value: The study contributes to the EDI literature by identifying some mechanisms behind and the implications of varying employee involvement in digitally enhanced EDI processes.

In this paper, we elaborate a gendered perspective on entrepreneurship, technology and innovation as implemented in European Union policies promoting innovation and clusters. In this endeavour, we employ Squire's (2005), Walby's (2005) and Rees' (2005) classifications of different kinds of gender mainstreaming. Our study comprises the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which provides resources for regions throughout the Union. During the period 2007-2013 priority is given to measures promoting entrepreneurship, development of small and medium-sized enterprises, innovation and clusters. Gender mainstreaming is perceived as a key element in the implementation of ERDF. However, evaluations carried out between 2000-2006 show that there are several obstacles for the integration of a gender perspective in ERDF, e.g. that concepts such as entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and clusters are perceived of as gender neutral and that a gender perspective is not applied when promoting innovation and clusters. Our study investigates how gender mainstreaming is approached in the Operational Programmes (OP) for the period 2007-2013 within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective supported by the ERDF. Ten of in total 13 programmes supporting transnational cooperation between different European regions are analysed in a gender perspective. The study shows that most OPs lack gender SWOT-analyses and/or an integration of a gender perspective in the overall SWOT analysis for the territorial cooperation areas. Few make any references linking gender equality to economic growth, entrepreneurship, innovation or clusters. Positive actions for women in entrepreneurship, innovation and technology are rare. Gender equality is referred to as a horizontal objective and in relation to non-discrimination, but it is not mentioned in relation to specific objectives and measures. In theory, most of the programmes are open to initiatives supporting entrepreneurship, innovation and clusters in sectors where many women are active, such as for example tourism. But underlying assumptions of innovation and clusters, as well as an extensive focus on high-tech sectors, in practice constitute obstacles for women's participation and potential benefits of the ERDF.

In the early 1990s public funds were initiated by the Swedish government, channelled through the County Administrative Boards, to encourage the establishment of Women Resource Centres (WRCs). Since then, WRCs all over the country have worked to increase women's participation in regional development. According to an earlier study, WRCs have systematically organized innovation systems at the local, regional and national level in Sweden by linking actors from different spheres of society around topics such as new technology, culture and service industry.2 Gradually, the Swedish innovation system of WRCs has expanded internationally through funding from various European Union funds encouraging transnational cooperation. In 2006 the European association WINNET Europe was formed, gathering WRCs from 21 countries. In this paper, we set out to analyse how WRCs have organised an innovation system on the European level, gathering actors from different spheres of society encountering both support and resistance. We describe this process of internationalisation in the light of theories of innovation systems and triple helix. The questions we try to answer are: Which actors have been mobilised and what resistance and successes has been encountered? How might these factors be related to the ambition of gender mainstreaming in Sweden and EU? The answer to the first question is that in order to properly analyse the European innovation system of WRCs a new category of helixes has to be introduced. Our suggestion is that this new helix is to be called ‘Quattro helix', exposing the crucial roles of the private, public and academic sector, as well as of the civil sector. Regarding the second question, we have distinguished how WRCs have experienced problems with mobilising organisational and economic support at the regional level, simultaneously being attended to and encouraged by actors on European level.

In the early 1990s public funds were initiated by the Swedish government, channelled through the County Administrative Boards, to encourage the establishment of Women Resource Centres (WRCs). Since then, WRCs all over the country have worked to increase women's participation in regional development. According to an earlier study, WRCs have systematically organized innovation systems at the local, regional and national level in Sweden by linking actors from different spheres of society around topics such as new technology, culture and service industry.2 Gradually, the Swedish innovation system of WRCs has expanded internationally through funding from various European Union funds encouraging transnational cooperation. In 2006 the European association WINNET Europe was formed, gathering WRCs from 21 countries. In this paper, we set out to analyse how WRCs have organised an innovation system on the European level, gathering actors from different spheres of society encountering both support and resistance. We describe this process of internationalisation in the light of theories of innovation systems and triple helix. The questions we try to answer are: Which actors have been mobilised and what resistance and successes has been encountered? How might these factors be related to the ambition of gender mainstreaming in Sweden and EU?

In this article, the theory of ‘state feminism’ is applied on the area of regional development policy, supplementing existing research about state–citizen relationships in northern and southern Europe. Based on Swedish data, it is argued that the former alliance between the women's movement and the welfare state has been transformed as a result of new steering methods in regional development policy in a way that is best understood as a paradox. This paradox includes both stronger and weaker relations. The public support to Women Resource Centres (WRCs) in Sweden is used as an example of ‘state feminism’. The ability of the WRCs to affect policy has changed over time, however, due to the adoption of new steering methods based on networks and market-orientation in Swedish regional development policy. The conclusions induce further development of ‘state feminism’ theory, making it more up-to-date with the prevalent interaction between women's movements and European welfare states.

Tidigare forskning visar att ideella organisationer har en lång tradition av att utveckla nytänkande lösningar på behov och utmaningar i samhället. På senare år har det blivit allt vanligare att beskriva detta i termer av innovation, i samband med att nytänkande lösningar efterfrågas på aktuella samhällsutmaningar och de globala hållbarhetsmålen i Agenda 2030. Där ses ideella organisationer som en viktig innovationskraft utifrån deras allmännyttiga och medlemsnyttiga syften, förankring i civilsamhället , ideella insatser, med mera. Allt fler forskningsstudier undersöker hur innovationsutveckling går till i ideella organisationer i Sverige och internationellt. Med detta kapitel vill vi bidra till denna kunskapsutveckling genom att utforska den ideella sektorns innovativitet inom utbildning och lärande, vilket vi valt att kalla för pedagogisk innovation. Syftet är att öka insikten i hur ideella organisationer bidrar till personlig, organisatorisk och samhällelig utveckling genom nytänkande pedagogik. Det är relevant att studera eftersom kunskap och lärande kan antas vara en förutsättning för förnyelse. Dessutom har tidigare forskning om pedagogisk innovation sällan studerat just ideella organisationer. Syftet uppnås genom en explorativ studie där erfarenheter från ett urval av ideella organisationer i Sverige används för att skapa en initial bild av hur pedagogisk innovation kan förstås i den ideella sektorn. Genom en abduktiv ansats vägleds analysen av organisationernas egna förståelser av pedagogisk innovation och tidigare forskning om innovation i den ideella sektorn.

Syfte: Identifiera exempel på hur social innovation – i betydelsen av nya varor, tjänster metoder m.m. som är utvecklade på ett socialt inkluderande sätt och som leder till social förändring – kan vara en väg till jämlik och jämställd regional tillväxt i Norrbotten. Deltagande organisationer: Coompanion Nord, Hushållningssällskapet Norrbotten, Sunderby folkhögskola, Hela Sverige Ska Leva Norrbotten, Winnet Norrbotten, MagmaFinansiär: Länsstyrelsen i Norrbotten

This chapter conceptualizes and operationalizes the potential of social capital in the making of sustainable strategies for individual firms in localized clusters as well as for the clusters as collectives. Global competitiveness is created out of local collaboration between firms that to a varying degree are internationalized, thereby building generic ‘glocal’ strategies. These strategies are in turn energized by the individual and collective social capital that originates in the egocentric personal networks of the local firms and the sociocentric personal network that the overall cluster of firms constitutes. The personal ties between firms that build these networks concern business or social exchange or a combination of the two. We inform how these features of network ties can be operationalized to provide a database for comparative studies of localized clusters of firms. The overall localized social capital that the cluster contains is activated through spontaneous self-organizing as well as formal organizing. The interaction between the spontaneous and formal structures turns the cluster into an ‘organizing context’, that is, an enacted environment for the local firms that is co-constructed by themselves. To illustrate how clusters build organizing contexts that accommodate glocal strategies by accumulating and using social capital, we tell the story of a Swedish community (Lammhult) and its firm cluster. This is known as ‘The kingdom of furniture’. The proposed model of personal networking and the illustrated example together inform how local actors may successfully initiate a process that aims at the creation of viable glocal strategies anchored in personal relations and networks. A ‘first mover advantage’ enables the cluster representatives to define what further enforcements external private and public bodies may contribute with.

Through creative imitation, this article aims to make the case for a more inclusive view on innovation related to gender. In entrepreneurship theory, innovation is usually associated with creativity as something extraordinary, followed by generalisations of how innovation is brought about, which are based upon dichotomies that lead to exclusion of those who are expected to innovate. Innovation policy tends to associate innovation with industrial, large-scale product development, to the neglect of other types of innovations. Therefore, policy and research both tend to disregard certain innovations that are pursued by certain actors in certain areas. In particular, women entrepreneurs are neglected, as are innovations within women-dominated industries. This marginalisation is, arguably, related to how innovation is conceptualised, which this article will scrutinise by means of gender theory and narrative theory. The article highlights the example of a businesswoman who has pursued innovation in the area of wedding arrangements, which represents one of the categories that have been marginalised in research and policy on innovation. The woman's story of one of her innovations is analysed based upon data collected at dialogue seminars. This illustrates how innovation – when regarded as a mediation between creativity and imitation – appears to be both extraordinary and everyday, as well as tied to the context in which it appears. This serves to bridge dichotomies and end up with an inclusive approach in terms of who is expected to innovate, where, and what. In so doing, this article challenges common assumptions regarding innovation and offers an original interpretation of how innovation is associated to imitation and gendered relations.

Här presenterar vi ramverket för RIKARE affärsmodeller. Ramverket som tagits fram inom ramen Gender Smart Arena vid Luleå tekniska universitet syftar till att bidra till företags och organisationer förändringsarbete mot inkluderande affärs- och verksamhetsmodeller. Ramverket utgör ett delmoment, ett komplement till det digitala verktyget ”Richer business models” (richerbusiness.eu). En affärsmodell är den plan enligt vilken ett företag sköter sin affärsverksamhet. Medvetenhet och reflekterande förståelse kring vad som skapar värde i företag möjliggör förändring. I detta ramverk bidrar vi med övningar och utmaningar som tar ert företag eller organisation till nästa steg i ert förändringsarbete. Företag och organisationer drivs av människor och det är också människor som skapar värde och åstadkommer förändring. I ramverket rikare affärsmodeller fångas affärsmodellens förändringsarbete utifrån flera dimensioner; från olika ”platser” (fysiskt, digital, socialt), situationer, roller och agerande, dvs det som sker och inte sker i företaget eller organisationen.

Genom ramverket RIKARE affärsmodeller kan företag och organisationer ta ytterligare steg mot förbättrad konkurrenskraft och ansvarstagande för att skapa nya värden. Ta på dig de inkluderande glasögonen och bege dig ut i världen – var normkritisk och normkreativ – var aldrig rädd att förändr

Under de senaste åren har behovet ökat av nytänkande vägar för att attrahera invånare, besökare och näringsliv till samhällen, regioner, besöksmål och andra platser runt om i Sverige. Detta beror bland annat på den intensifierade konkurrensen om arbetskraft, investeringar och etableringar mellan olika platser, branscher och arbetsgivare. Denna konkurrens intensifieras av de senaste decenniernas demografiska förändringar i både stad och glesbygd, med ökad inflyttning till större städer och ökad utflyttning från glesbygdsområden. I kombination med varierande flyktingströmmar från andra länder skapar detta utmaningar för tillgången till service, livskvalitet och upplevelser på en plats. För att möjliggöra nytänkande helhetsutveckling av platser har platsinnovation utvecklats som ett begrepp och koncept som sammanväver olika centrala pusselbitar i attraktivitet. I denna orienteringsbok beskrivs dessa pusselbitar tillsammans med exempel på befintliga och potentiella platsinnovationer, samt metoder och analyser kring nytänkande platsutveckling. Orienteringsboken är framtagen inom ramen för projektet ”Platsinnovation i Swedish Lapland” som har drivits av Luleå tekniska universitet i samarbete med Piteå Science Park, SVID, Stiftelsen Svensk Industridesign och en rad kommuner, destinationsbolag och företagare i Norrbotten och Västerbotten under 2015-2017, med finansiering från Besöksnäringens forsknings- och utvecklingsfond.

This chapter explores the mutual interconnectedness of gender and innovation in innovation policy, using Sweden as an empirical case. Firstly, the priority pattern of actors and industries in innovation policy programmes and strategies is examined. Secondly, the link from the priority pattern to men and masculinities is scrutinised. Thirdly, the dynamics of this link are discussed in relation to prospects for a policy that is not based on segregating and hierarchical gender constructions. The empirical data covers all national (and a selection of regional) policy programmes promoting innovation systems and clusters since the turn of the millennium in Sweden, as described in public policy documents. It is revealed that the groups of Basic and Manufacturing Industries and New Technologies, both primarily employing men as employees and entrepreneurs, have been given high priority within Sweden’s innovation policy whilst the group of Service and Experience Industries, employing mostly women, has been given low priority. On a symbolic level, the two prioritised groups can be connected to two forms of masculinities: one based on physical strength and mechanical skills and the other on a calculating rationality among technological experts. Introducing the concept of co-construction of gender and innovation, it is highlighted how gender/masculinity and innovation are mutually constructed within the innovation policy when the pattern of prioritisation coincides with the gender-segregated labour market. Three different strategies could be combined to change these gendered patterns: inclusion, reversal and displacement. These reduce formal barriers to women and men in the formulation of policy programmes and strategies, acknowledge the importance of areas employing many women in policy priorities and reach beyond dualistic gender constructions by including a wide range of actors, areas and innovations. Innovation systems and clusters which manage to bridge the gap between different industries have the potential to reach beyond segregating and hierarchical gender constructions in Sweden’s innovation policy.

In the project Lyftet, four regional networks came together in order to lift their experiences of promoting women's entrepreneurship and innovation to a joint platform of knowledge. The networks consisted of women running their own companies and/or working as business promoters. Participating at dialogue seminars arranged within each network, the network members shared experiences from their processes with each other as well as with the four researchers being involved. The aim of these dialogue seminars was to create a free space where the network members could discuss Sweden's innovation and entrepreneurship policy from a gender perspective, in the light of their own efforts to promote women's entrepreneurship and innovation, without being hampered by the norms conveyed in the existing innovation and entrepreneurship policy programs. In this paper, I discuss how action research methods might shed a light on how the dialogue seminars helped the participants to challenge delimiting assumptions within Sweden's innovation policy. The results expose how the alignment of Participatory Action Research (PAR) helped to articulate critique against the contemporary innovation policy from a gender perspective and how the alignment of Participatory and Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) helped to discern aspects and measures fostering change on the area of innovation policy.

Review of Innovationer - Dynamik och förnyelse i ekonomi och samhällsliv, 2005, Benner, Mats (red.), Lund: Studentlitteratur, 251 p.and Dynamiska innovationssystem i Norden? Volym 1. Sammanfattande analys och bedömning, Gergils, Håkan, Studieförbundet Näringsliv och samhälle: Stockholm, 107 p.

In recent decades, the role of policy networks in public promotion of innovation has been highlighted in Western innovation policies and innovation theories. However, a knowledge gap still prevails concerning the paradox that while emphasizing decentralization and inclusion in theory, innovation theories and policies are characterized by a top-down approach in practice, ascribing superiority to certain actors and areas in advance while marginalizing others. This motivates the application of analytical approaches and empirical data that are more considerate towards a multitude of actors, areas and aspects in order to fully understand the dynamics of policy networks such as innovation systems and clusters. In this article, some of the marginalized actors and areas get to prove their importance empirically by means of existing tools of bottom-up policy analysis. A bottom-up approach has previously been applied in relation to innovation systems and clusters only in a few research studies. The paper portrays how four Swedish policy networks have challenged prevailing innovation policy and innovation research by highlighting the role of non-profit actors, services and creative industries and women’s entrepreneurship and innovation. They have challenged the norms by expanding the range of relevant actors in such policy networks, resulting in entrepreneurial types of innovation systems. The bottom-up generated data contributes to the further development of existing innovation theories by exposing a causal relation between context, organization and outcomes – implying that experiences of marginalization evoke entrepreneurial types of innovation systems rather that institutional, engendering a wider range of innovations. The acknowledgement of such a causal relation increases the ability of innovation theories to correctly inform Western policies aiming to enhance innovation and evoke “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”, emphasized in the new EU2020 strategy.

In the project Lyftet four regional networks came together in order to lift their experiences of promoting women's entrepreneurship and innovation to a joint platform of knowledge. Participating at dialogue seminars arranged within each network, the network members shared experiences with each other as well as with the four researchers being involved (me being one of them). My part of the research dealt with how the participants in the dialogues seminars came to challenge delimiting assumptions within Sweden's innovation policy. In this paper, I will use two alignments of action research to scrutinize our common strive to spread the preferential right of interpretation more equally among women and men on the area of innovation policy. Specifically, I will investigate how Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory and Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) might cast a light over this process. As I will show, the tools provided by these two alignments of action research have the potential to enhance proceeding from criticism to change, thus linking two crucial - but sometimes competing - aspects of gender equality aspirations. Tony Ghaye (2007), one of the initiators of PAAR, offers a bridge between criticism and action in writing that: "Being critical is not negatively pulling everything apart. It's more about trying to see things differently and do different things" (p 52).

In this paper, two alignments of action research are used to scrutinize a R&D initiative intended to spread the preferential right of interpretation more equally among women and men in innovation policy. Specifically, it is investigated how Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory and Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) cast a light over the challenges and potentials of this endeavour. The R&D initiative was a project pursued 2002-2005 involving four Swedish regional networks in order to “lift” their experiences of promoting women’s entrepreneurship and innovation to a joint platform of knowledge. Participating at dialogue seminars arranged within each network, the network members shared experiences with each other as well as with the four researchers being involved. The tools provided by the two alignments of action research expose how the knowledge development within the R&D project combined criticism with change, thus linking two crucial - but sometimes competing - aspects of gender equality aspirations.

In the project Lyftet (appr. The Lifting), 2002-2005, four regional networks came together in order to "lift" their experiences of promoting women's entrepreneurship and innovation to a joint platform of knowledge. Participating at dialogue seminars arranged within each network, the network members shared experiences with each other as well as with the four researchers being involved (me being one of them). My part of the research dealt with how the participants in the dialogues seminars came to challenge delimiting assumptions within Sweden's innovation policy. In this paper, I will use two alignments of action research to scrutinize our common strive to spread the preferential right of interpretation more equally among women and men on the area of innovation policy. Specifically, I will investigate how Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory and Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) might cast a light over this process. As I will show, the tools provided by these two alignments of action research have the potential to combine criticism with change, thus linking two crucial - but sometimes competing - aspects of gender equality aspirations. Tony Ghaye (2007, p 52), one of the initiators of PAAR, offers a bridge between criticism and action in writing that: "Being critical is not negatively pulling everything apart. It's more about trying to see things differently and do different things".

This chapter argues that a combination of gender scientific theories/methods and participatory research methods can democratise innovation policy by highlighting and inciting more equal power relations in the development and implementation of innovation policy. The empirical case consists of four regional networks in Sweden promoting women’s entrepreneurship and innovation, challenging the masculine norms of precedent innovation policy strategies and programs. Participatory research methods have been used to develop new knowledge jointly by researchers and participants. The analysis exposes that innovation policy can be democratised by gender scientific participatory research in two manners. Firstly, by ‘democratisation of innovation’ as in widening the range of actors, industries and innovations considered as important to involve in the organisation and promotion of innovation networks. Secondly, by ‘democratic innovation’ as in creating new institutions specifically designed to increase and deepen citizen participation in the political decision-making process, which is exemplified in the organisation of innovation networks bottom-up for and by women in a way that challenges gendered norms in innovation policy. The networks thus contribute to the general trend of opening up innovation to society, motivated by the transition from an industrial to a knowledge intense society. This democratisation of innovation policy can be critically scrutinised, however, due to the neo-liberal assumptions permeating the innovation discourse in society – where innovations primarily are expected to induce economic growth in particular rather than societal development in a more general sense.

Den nya innovationspolitik som lanserats på global, europeisk och nationell nivå de senaste åren har tydliga inkluderande ambitioner (European Commission, 2010a, 2010b; OECD, 2010; Näringsdepartementet, 2012). Detta står i kontrast till tidigare innovationspolitiska strategier och program som främst gynnat ett snävt spektrum av aktörer, verksamhetsområden, innovationer och forskningsområden. Ofta är det tekniska produktinnovationer inom basindustri, tillverkningsindustri och IT, baserade på teknisk eller naturvetenskaplig forskning, som främjats (Lindberg, 2009, 2010; Pettersson, 2007). I detta kapitel analyseras i vilken utsträckning de inkluderande ambitionerna breddar det spektrum som fokuseras i innovationspolitiska satsningar. Om så är fallet, utgör de inkluderande ambitionerna då en språngbräda eller hämsko för innovation ur humanistisk och samhällsvetenskaplig forskning, som är forskningsområden som tidigare tillskrivits en ytterst begränsad roll för innovationsutveckling? Det är en viktig fråga att besvara eftersom det avgör vilka människor och vilken kunskap som tillåts forma framtidens innovationer och därigenom vårt framtida samhälle. I förlängningen avgör detta vem som gynnas eller missgynnas av den innovativa samhällsutveckling som förväntas komma till stånd som en följd av den offentliga finansiering som fördelas utifrån de innovationspolitiska strategierna.

Jämställdhetsinsatser i organisationer och samhälle bedrivs ofta med hjälp av något sorts kunskaps- och metodstöd, exempelvis i form av handböcker, föreläsningar, coaching eller processledning. Traditionellt sett har detta stöd varit analogt, i betydelsen att det utförts av personer på plats eller omfattat tryckt material. På senare tid har stödet allt oftare digitaliserats, där kunskaper och metoder görs tillgängliga genom appar, webbguider, webbutbildningar m.m. Ett exempel är appen är Power Up som ger information, exempel och tips för att identifiera och motverka härskartekniker. Gemensamt för de digitala jämställdhetsverktygen är att de utvecklas, sprids och används med hjälp av den digitala teknikens interaktiva mekanismer och kombinerade format (t.ex. texter, filmer, poddar, quiz). I rapporten studeras 27 olika verktyg som utvecklats i Sverige under de senaste åren. Studien visar att verktygen fyller olika funktioner, till exempel att samla och visualisera statistik, mäta och berätta om nuläget, öka kunskapen genom utbildning, eller systematisera jämställdhetsinsatserna. Målgrupperna för verktygen är vanligen medarbetare och chefer på svenska arbetsplatser, men vissa verktyg riktas specifikt till företag, föreningar eller myndigheter eller till idrottslivet, besöksnäringen eller akademin. Utvecklingen av verktygen har ofta skett genom innovativa kombinationer av olika kompetenser och samhällsaktörer. I rapporten analyseras verktygens potential att möjliggöra systematiska, kunskapsbaserade och innovativa jämställdhetsinsatser, vilket enligt tidigare forskning är en förutsättning för reell och långsiktig förändring av ojämställda könsmönster i organisationer och samhälle.

Since the establishment of the new governmental agency Vinnova in 2001 and the initiation of the regional growth agreements in 2000, the Swedish government has promoted innovation by means of regional innovation systems. Just as long, there has been a debate about the gendered aspects of these policy efforts, especially in relation to the transformation of academic theory into regional practice. In this chapter, the matter of how gender is produced in Sweden's innovation policy is discussed in the light of a survey brought out on the pattern of prioritization among regional innovation systems in Sweden. The survey exposes how 75% of the regional innovation systems subject to public promotion via the Vinnväxt programme concerns groups of industries that primarily employ men. From a ‘doing gender' perspective, this pattern implies that gender is done in a manner that distinguishes men from women in relation to regional innovation systems. A seed of change is to be seen, however, in the bottom up initiative to organize regional innovation systems around women's entrepreneurship and innovation, originating from the project Lyftet. In this chapter, this seed of change is interpreted as an alternative to the segregating and hierarchical doing of gender in Sweden's innovation policy, introducing a way where it is unnecessary and undesirable to distinguish women from men when it comes to public promotion of regional innovation systems. Some final thoughts on how different measures of gender mainstreaming influence the doing of gender in the regional practice of innovation policy programs indicate that measures introduced ad hoc in already prioritized formations will not change the encompassing pattern of how different groups of industries are esteemed in the process of prioritization, thus leaving the predominant way of doing gender intact. However, a gleam of hope can be discerned in recent calls made by Vinnova on areas that bridge the gender segregated labour market, e.g. within innovation journalism, e-services and healthcare.

Since the establishment of the new governmental agency Vinnova in 2001 and the initiation of the regional growth agreements in 2000, the Swedish government has promoted innovation by means of regional innovation systems. Just as long, there has been a debate about the gendered aspects of these policy efforts, especially in relation to the transformation of academic theory into regional practice. In this paper, the matter of how gender is produced in Sweden's innovation policy is discussed in the light of a survey brought out on the pattern of prioritization among regional innovation systems in Sweden. The survey exposes how 75% of the regional innovation systems subject to public promotion via the Vinnväxt programme concerns groups of industries that primarily employ men. From a ‘doing gender' perspective, this pattern implies that gender is done in a manner that distinguishes men from women in relation to regional innovation systems. A seed of change is to be seen, however, in the bottom up initiative to organize regional innovation systems around women's entrepreneurship and innovation, originating from the project Lyftet. In this paper, this seed of change is interpreted as an alternative to the segregating and hierarchical doing of gender in Sweden's innovation policy, introducing a way where it is unnecessary and undesirable to distinguish women from men when it comes to public promotion of regional innovation systems. Some final thoughts on how different measures of gender mainstreaming influence the doing of gender in the regional practice of innovation policy programs indicate that measures introduced ad hoc in already prioritized formations will not change the encompassing pattern of how different groups of industries are esteemed in the process of prioritization, thus leaving the predominant way of doing gender intact. However, a gleam of hope can be discerned in recent calls made by Vinnova on areas that bridge the gender segregated labour market, e.g. within innovation journalism, e-services and healthcare.

I denna artikel tittar jag närmare på vilka aktörer och verksamhetsområden som fått del av de ekonomiska medel som fördelas via Sveriges innovationspolitik. Jag undersöker hur detta mönster bidrar till att forma föreställningar om genus och hur föreställningar om genus bidrar till att forma innovationspolitiken. Det rådande prioriteringsmönstret får konsekvenser för kvinnors och mäns villkor på arbetsmarknaden.

I Sverige är det en lagstadgad uppgift för akademin att samverka med det omgivande samhället och verka för att forskningsresultat kommer till nytta i samhället. Akademin ska enligt lagen även främja en hållbar utveckling med social välfärd och rättvisa. Samtidigt är frågan vem som ska involveras, hur involveringen ska ske och framförallt varför forskare och deltagare ska lägga sin tid och energi på sådan involvering. Det argumenteras för att forskningens relevans och nytta i samhället kan öka genom att tillvarata en mångfald av människor och perspektiv, bland annat från civilsamhället och dess ideella organisationer. På så sätt kan forskningens bidra till att förstå och främja nytänkande lösningar på aktuella samhällsutmaningar, såsom arbetslöshet, ohälsa, fattigdom och migration.

”På väg mot jämställda och attraktiva kommuner” är ett utvecklingsarbete som drivits av Norrbottens Kommuner1 under 2018-2021. Det har omfattat processtöd och kunskapsstöd till fem norrbottniska kommuner i deras implementering av den europeiska deklarationen för jämställdhet, som förkortat kallas för CEMR-deklarationen (CEMR, 2009). De kommuner som deltagit är Gällivare kommun, Haparanda kommun, Jokkmokk kommun, Kalix kommun och Övertorneå kommun. Utvecklingsarbetet skulle bland annat bidra till ökad kunskap och ett strukturerat arbetssätt på alla nivåer i dessa kommuner, vad gäller jämställdhetsintegrering med ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Med jämställdhet menas i detta sammanhang att kvinnor och män ska ha samma makt att forma samhället och sina egna liv. Med jämställdhetsintegrering menas en organisatorisk strategi, där ett jämställdhetsperspektiv beaktas inom alla områden, nivåer och faser i en verksamhet. Med intersektionalitet menas samspelet mellan olika diskrimineringsgrunder, såsom kön, ålder, etnicitet, funktionsnedsättning och sexuell läggning.  För att tillvarata lärdomar från tidigare forskning har Luleå tekniska universitet bidragit med ett kontinuerligt kunskapsstöd till utvecklingsarbetet. Det har omfattat reflekterande samtal med projektledning, deltagande observationer vid styrgruppsmöten och kommunernas erfarenhetsutbyten, samt skriftliga analyser av utvecklingsarbetet. I denna rapport presenteras den sammantagna analysen av utvecklingsarbetet, baserat på samtal, deltagande observationer och skriftliga dokument (till exempel projektplan, powerpoints och rapporter). Rapporten inleds med lärdomar från tidigare forskning om könsmönster och jämställdhetsinsatser. Därefter beskrivs utvecklingsarbetet i de norrbottniska kommunerna och analyseras i ljuset av tidigare forskning. 

This article examines whether hitherto marginalized actors, industries and innovations – such as women, services industries and service innovations – could be acknowledged by the use of a bottom-up approach in innovation research in a way that helps make public innovation support more inclusive. It is scrutinized whether the relation between context, organization and outcomes in publically financed innovation networks such as clusters and innovation systems serves to highlight how more inclusive innovation support could be designed. Four regional innovation networks promoting women’s entrepreneurship and innovation in Sweden are analyzed by a bottom-up approach, since while emphasizing decentralization and inclusion in theory, most innovation theories and policies are in practice characterized by a top-down approach, ascribing superiority to certain actors, industries and innovations while marginalizing others in a distinct – often gendered – pattern. The bottom-up approach makes it possible to expose that being a marginalized actor in public innovation support is related to the organization of entrepreneurial types of innovation systems, based on contacts established ad hoc and resources gathered from scratch, making a wider range of actors, industries and innovations relevant than in insti-tutional types of innovation systems favored in prevalent public innovation support. By acknowledging both types of innovation systems, more inclusive innovation policies could be designed and more nuanced innovation theories could be developed.

Denna rapport är en del i den följeforskning som genomförts 2020-2022 i Nationellt organ för dialog och samråd mellan regeringen och det civila samhället (NOD). Syftet med rapporten är att bidra till planeringen, genomförandet och uppföljningen av NODs verksamhet. Rapporten riktar sig i första hand till NODs parter och kansli, men kan även läsas av andra intresserade. Följeforskningen innebär att forskare följer NODs verksamhet och bidrar till kunskapsbaserad reflektion i den löpande verksamheten. Huvudfrågan för följeforskningen är vilka innovativa samverkansformer som omfattas i NODs verksamhet, samt vilka mervärden som detta skapar för de involverade organisationerna och för samhället i stort. Tidigare har två rapporter publicerats som en del i följeforskningen. Den första rapporten, som publicerades 2020, handlade om NODs omställning under corona-pandemin, NODs mervärden för parterna från regering och civilsamhälle, samt lärdomar från tidigare forskning om överenskommelser mellan dessa parter. Den andra rapporten, som publicerades 2021, handlade om NODs former för dialog och samråd, hållbar omstart i kölvattnet av pandemin, samt innovativiteten och hållbarheten i NODs verksamhet. I föreliggande rapport, som publiceras 2022, presenteras följeforskningens slutliga resultat och slutsatser.

I denna forskningsrapport studeras utvecklingen av två digitala jämställdhetsverktyg – Richer Business och iGen – som är avsedda att vara ett stöd för jämställdhetsinsatser i framför allt små och medelstora företag. Verktygsutvecklingen har skett inom ramen för projekten Genusakademin och Gender Smart Arena som drivits i samarbete mellan akademi, näringsliv och samhälle. Rapporten syftar till att öka kunskapen om hur gemensam verktygsutveckling kan gå till i samverkan mellan aktörer från olika samhällssektorer. Det görs genom att beskriva och analysera projektens verktygsutveckling i ljuset av tidigare forskning. Rapporten är en uppföljare till en tidigare forskningsrapport där flera olika digitala jämställdhetsverktyg studerades (Lindberg 2019). Den inleds med en sammanfattning av tidigare forskning om stödverktyg i jämställdhetsinsatser. Därefter beskrivs verktygsutvecklingen i Genusakademin och Gender Smart Arena. Slutligen analyseras verktygsutvecklingen utifrån tidigare forskning.