The Erasmus+ project “EQUALdigitalent – Gender Equality in Digital Entrepreneurship“, in which the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin) participated as a project partner from 2016 to 2019, has been recognized with an award.

(Excerpt from questions, compiled by Prof. Dr. Barbara Eisenbart, Prof. Dr. Heike Wiesner, Prof. Dr. Johannes Kirch, Prof. Dr. Matthias Tomenedal and Judith Schütze.)

What award is it: “Lead Project 2020”
Every 6 years, particularly successful Erasmus+ projects are recognized by a jury of the organization AIBA, which accompanies Erasmus+ projects as the national agency in Liechtenstein.
The project was carried out by four international project partners from Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany from September 2016 to August 2019 in close cooperation: University of Liechtenstein (project lead), Berlin School of Economics and Law, Catholic Social Academy of Austria, and the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Who from HWR Berlin was involved? In what capacity / with what responsibilities?

  • Project lead (during the project’s duration: Project lead/coordination: University of Liechtenstein). Today: Prof. Dr. Barbara Eisenbart, Guest Professor for Business Informatics, with a focus on Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship, Department of Dual Study Programs in Business and Technology
  • Project partner HWR Berlin:
    • Dr. Heike Wiesner, Professorship for Business Information and Communication Systems, Business Informatics degree program; Research focus: Participatory Software Design; Transformative Technologies & Diversity/Gender (module responsibility), formative evaluation, among others.
    • Dr. Matthias Tomenendal, Professorship for Management and Consulting, Director of the Berlin Professional School; Module responsibility Digital Business Management & Leadership, evaluation, among others.
    • Judith Schütze (research associate)
    • Johannes Kirch (research associate during the project’s duration). Today: Prof. Dr. Johannes Kirch, Professorship for Human Resources Management & Corporate Leadership (bbw Hochschule Berlin)

What was the project “EQUALdigitalent – Gender Equality in Digital Entrepreneurship” about?
What was the starting point – what was the goal?
The main objective of the ERASMUS+ project “Gender Equality in Digital Entrepreneurship” (EQUALdigitalent) was to develop a gender-sensitive, interdisciplinary master’s degree program “Gender Equality in Digital Entrepreneurship” and, within that framework, to also develop and test new transdisciplinary teaching formats. Furthermore, the aim was to highlight and sustainably strengthen the importance of women in the field of entrepreneurship.

What results did the research project achieve? (Development of a master’s degree program, others?)
In addition to raising awareness of the (international) topic of “women and entrepreneurship,” HWR Berlin developed new transdisciplinary teaching and learning formats within the scope of the project, partially tested and formatively evaluated them.

What specifically distinguishes the master’s degree program you developed from other degree programs/program concepts? What is innovative/special about the new master’s degree program?
The gender perspective was continuously integrated throughout all developed and tested modules. All modules thus contain a direct engagement with the topic of gender. Here, rather than offering — as is often customary — a standalone module on gender separated from the other content, it was consistently implemented in every module as an essential component. This expanded perspective thus enabled an inter- and transdisciplinary approach that analyzes digitalization as an activity in an actor-specific manner and extends it in a design-oriented way under the aspect of gender.
The piloting of special blended learning and in-person offerings in this context carries a high degree of innovation and relevance, and enables future cross-institutional collaborations in the area of teaching as well.

What is the name of the new degree program: Digital Entrepreneurship?
The Berlin Professional School is currently developing a Master’s degree program in Business Management – Digital Business Management, which qualifies graduates for management positions in startups as well as international companies and organizations. Content and results from the research project are also being incorporated into the “Digital Entrepreneurship” module.

How and why does this new degree program fit into HWR Berlin’s portfolio?
Internationalization, digitalization and diversity are part of HWR Berlin’s mission. Each individual institution and institute involved is free to sustainably implement parts of the degree program. The relevance of the topic is self-evident: although a slight increase in the proportion of women in the startup sector has been consistently observed for several years, they remain overall significantly underrepresented. Currently, the share of female founders stands at only around 15% (cf. Hirschfeld, Mütze & Gilde, 2019, p. 7).

When is it set to launch with us?
Starting in autumn 2021, the Master’s degree program in Business Management with a focus on Digital Business Management is scheduled to launch at the Berlin Professional School. In addition, a cross-faculty module “Digital Business” for various bachelor’s degree programs is being developed for spring 2022.

What does the award mean to you and your team, what does it mean to be among the “Best of” ERASMUS+?
The award demonstrates the relevance of transdisciplinary knowledge in the academic context. The intersection of digitalization, entrepreneurship and gender offers a genuine opportunity to address the digital society in an entirely new way. In particular, the continuous integration of gender aspects with regard to digitalized entrepreneurship proved to be highly significant. The submission of future research projects will certainly be supported by this positive track record.