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Learning with women innovators

Target group Colaboration Objectives
alumni, young women 25+ academy&community Explore and support their career paths

The innovation path addresses women innovators aged 25 and up. It focuses on the possible ‘routes to job’ that are open to women who have been through alternative professional training, ranging from self–built to more traditional career paths. In shemakes.eu, partners have started mapping out the possible ‘routes to job’ that help us gain insight into the hypothesis that Fabricademy and the Shemakes labs enable women to thrive in the T&C sector by learning them certain skills and tools. It contains testimonies of women innovators and proposes some adaptations and learning modules to foster collaborations and be better equipped for the innovation ecosystems.


Formats of the Innovation path

Diverse formats are possible for the Innovation path. We have brought together a wide range of alumni and active community members to share with us what their stay in the Lab, the Fabricademy program, or other training have brought to them. From their input and vision, we map initial profiles and work towards supporting their needs. This way, the lab can learn how to support the progress of their alumni and active community members; while developing together and creating awareness among the young women entrepreneurs that surround the labs.

In shemakes we have been exploring this by:

Remember that you can always change, add, expand any section!



Initial structures in the routes to job

scheme routes to job

Insights for further activities development

Activities develop in 2 parallel groups: - research actions: selfmapping, interviews & survey that lead to the innovators profiles - support actions: new activities that span from the needs defined by the participants of the surveys and interviews - routes to jobs: all labs interview 2-3 women innovators that are alumni or active community members that had a unconventional route to job and further expand the mapping of profiles.

Together they form a path that delineates new routes to unconventional jobs that reflect the shemakes values and gender vision, through the role and active support of Labs as the enbaling environments in which these women innovator can grow and feel supported, connected, empowered.

Initial insighs for documentede activities

scheme routes to job Explore the first meetup and networking event in the next section of this Open Toolkit. Networking meetups mix different alumni from different years, skills and contextes to explore the potential they hold as a growing collective that is active around the labs.

scheme routes to job Explore the first career matrix and the self-mapping if their career and action field by the innovators themselves in the next section of this Open Toolkit. The career matrix is used also in the networking sessions for the innovators/alumni to start self mapping themselves and for us to gain insight on what are their routes to jobs.

scheme routes to job Explore the survey, the set of questions/areas we explored and the initial outcomes of the survey. The survey is the basis of the research for exploring the needs the innovators voice, the existing gaps to be filled. It sets the direction of the support activities (see chapter below)

scheme routes to job Explore the format, areas of questions, the full interview setup and results of the intervies in the Survey Outcomes and Profile pages. Together with the survey, the research interviews start portraiying not only the different needs of the innovators/alumni in order to address them, but also create a shared portfolio of example profiles of unconventional routes to job - showing how there is space for many different typologies of innovators within the t&c industtries.



Initial insighs for new activities

These areas of activities can be further developed by transfer labs, enriching together the shared set of activities that support the women innovators. They are productive routes to job when in relation to outcomes of a survey or 2-3 innovators research interviews.

scheme routes to job The initial ideas from the Labs to support their innovators was to create more mixed networking events, were different groups within shemakes can meet and get to know each other.

does your initial idea of activities link, support, embody or expand this?

could your intial ideas of activities be fed by 1-2 research interviews to young women innovators?so to add also to the profiles mapped?


scheme routes to job The initial ideas from the Labs to support their innovators was to assist the innovators into getting to know the industry that surrounds them better, by organizing visits to the (local) ateliers, manufacturers, producers or textile studios.

does your initial idea of activities link, support, embody or expand this?


scheme routes to job The initial ideas from the Labs to support their innovators was to help them feel more confident, many innovators expressed the need of being better at presenting themselves, not feeling judged for their gender or choices and be able to pitch their ideas well to different public/audiences.

does your initial idea of activities link, support, embody or expand this?


scheme routes to job The initial ideas from the Labs to support their innovators was to assist the innovators to further develop their skills, also technically, for example with tailor made mentoring sessions - in a way learnings can be extracted for other innovators too.

does your initial idea of activities link, support, embody or expand this?



Last update: February 1, 2022