D1.3: Assessment of Rural and Farming Policy and Legal Frameworks in relation to Women-led Innovation

This report provides an assessment of policy and legal frameworks in relation to women led innovation from across the EU. The focus is on the extent to which current frameworks directly and indirectly support women-led innovation in farming and rural areas. The scope of this assessment is also shaped by the FLIARA Conceptual Framework as well as our analysis of relevant strategies, particularly the European Gender Equality Strategy. In the FLIARA project proposal, our initial interest was rural and farming policy and legal frameworks. However, as the project developed, one of our core concepts understands women-led innovation as an occurring part of an innovation ecosystem where there is an innovation journey that follows a pathway with a number of steps. This led us to a broader focus for this assessment which sees it guided by seven principles, derived largely from the European Gender Equality Strategy. This assessment aims to uncover a comprehensive framework of policies and laws impacting the innovation ecosystem and pathway towards women-led innovation in farming and rural areas. The emphasis is on a scoping-type exercise that provides a descriptive yet detailed inventory-like review of existing policy and law in the areas examined. The assessment is carried out in ten countries (Finland, Romania, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Spain) where focus is placed on European and national level policy and law. This is not an exhaustive assessment however it does provide an insight on key policy issues and sets up a foundational knowledge base for the remaining policy related tasks of the FLIARA project. For FLIARA’s future work on policy, particular priority areas of need may need to be identified to ensure we can make a strong contribution. In this context, based on the areas assessed here, a number of high-level overall observations are drawn together below.