Fewer than 11% of university start-ups have a female founder or co-founder. Women submit 35-40% fewer invention disclosures than their male peers. Women-led startups received a mere 2.3% of venture capitalist funding during the pandemic, and Portland-area women founders earned only 1.6% of VC funding in the first quarter of 2021.

The Women’s Innovation Network (WIN) contributes to the conversation to change these realities.

This nine-month, cross-disciplinary program helps UO faculty, researchers, students, and entrepreneurs in our community build skills that minimize gender-based barriers to success in innovation so that they can bring their research to market or launch and sustain their businesses. WIN is a collaborative effort between the UO and Onward Eugene.

WIN’s monthly seminars, social events, and mentor networks remove specific barriers faced by faculty and entrepreneurs. Our seminars are hosted by Onward Eugene in the heart of downtown at 942 Olive St.

• Barrier: Lack of Industry Connections
  • WIN’s Approach: We foster long-term relationships among participants, mentors, and industry leaders. We also offer access to leaders in company formation, fundraising, business pitches, grants, rhetoric and pragmatics, and public-private partnerships.
• Barrier: Gender-based Differences in Perspectives
  • WIN’s Approach: We help participants build skills to address the gender-based differences in perspectives on risk, readiness, and language use.
• Barrier: Lack of Familiarity with Commercialization and Entrepreneurial Pipelines
  • WIN’s Approach: We prepare participants to enter an incubator or accelerator and/or engage with private industry through partnerships and collaborations.
• Barrier: Unfunded Obligations
  • WIN’s Approach: We provide funding to compensate participants ($2,000 per participant) for their time and energy in the program, thereby reducing the amount of their unfunded obligations.

Key Features of WIN

• Nine-month program, October 2021 - June 2022
• Each month includes a one-hour social event related to the monthly topic (attendance highly encouraged), two-hour seminar (attendance mandatory), and one-hour small-group mentor call (attendance mandatory).
• Seminars are open to the public and will be held virtually October, November, and December. Events in 2022 will be held in-person in Eugene, Oregon.