PROGRESS OF THE WIN INNOVATION GROUP IN SLOVENIA

WIN Innovation Groups in Trbovlje, Slovenia, have so far held three online meetings and a second face-to-face meeting.

In the first online meeting on the 10th of October 2024, we first summarised the challenges raised by the participants in the first meeting, such as lack of confidence in entrepreneurship (competencies, financial literacy,... ), lack of knowledge of professions (among high school students), language barriers for immigrant women, lack of jobs for the highly educated, equal pay for equal work and work-life balance (childcare and elderly care) and highlighted two key challenges: lack of confidence in entrepreneurship and lack of knowledge of professions. Work-life balance was also chosen as a cross-cutting theme, particularly in entrepreneurship.

The meeting continued with work in two groups, in which the participants used the 'persona canvas' methodology to define the target groups in more detail. Then, in a second online meeting on Thursday 17th of October 2024, additional target groups were further refined in two groups according to the identified challenges of lack of knowledge of professions and lack of confidence in entrepreneurship.

The first challenge identified the target group of female students (regardless of school or program type), while the second identified the target group of lower-educated women aged between 30 and 40, older women (over 50), and foreign women.

The second live meeting was held on Thursday, 14th of November 2024, at the premises of the Trbovlje Gymnasium and Secondary School of Economics. The participants prepared indicative action plans for two solutions addressing the challenges identified above.

The two solutions were:

1) A joint (regional) event to introduce professions (Day of getting to know professions) to primary and secondary school pupils.

2) A hub or info point for women, with lower education and aged between 30-40 (and older), to get key information, guidance and support to enter entrepreneurship.

At the third online meeting on the 28th of November 2024, the members of the WIN Innovation Group continued to design solutions to the two selected challenges.

Two additional solutions were tentatively developed in two groups, namely:

1) an app/website to showcase occupations in Trbovlje and Zasavje, and

2) an innovation environment for women ((future) entrepreneurs), which would include support groups, entrepreneurial breakfasts (female-to-female), information activities on all existing options and opportunities, a hackathon for the development of concrete services/products and the development of new content to empower women to enter entrepreneurship.

The next Innovation group meeting is planned in January 2025.