Norway

In Norway, even though the interest in becoming entrepreneurs or innovators is more or less the same among women and men, only 30 percent of people becoming innovators are women, and the women’s share is steadily reduced in the direction toward “lasting business going well and in growth”.

Women (rural, farming and fishing) have played leading roles in local food innovation in Norway and the Trøndelag region, by selling produce and innovative products at small-scale outlets such as farmers’ markets. With shifting supply chains requiring larger producers to supply supermarkets, women’s role in the region seems to have become less prominent. This Lab looks at the innovation-related needs of rural women, to strengthen their role in local food innovation, as this is a field of innovation that has shown to be of high interest to women in rural areas.

The ‘Local Food Innovations’ Living Lab is based on the different experiences and accumulated knowledge among active women innovators of different ages, roles and stages of enterprise and will strengthen the innovation processes of women within local food innovation and more generally, through addressing and developing measures to overcome various challenges and barriers to be identified by the Living Lab members themselves. In addition, stakeholders supporting sustainable women innovation in rural areas will be involved in the Living Lab processes.