w-fFORTE – competent women in business and technology

w-fFORTE is a programme of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth (BMWFJ) and is implemented in the scope of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

w-fFORTE – Wirtschaftsimpulse von Frauen in Forschung und Technologie (economic impulses by women in research and technology) – contributes to establishing equal opportunities in scientific and technological worlds of work. Besides executing the impetus programme "Laura Bassi Centres of Expertise" a focus of the w-fFORTE programme is on understanding the different types of culture that exist in research institutions and to identify the resulting challenges faced by researchers working there. It is of particular interest to the w-fFORTE programme to find out which guiding assumptions regarding individual factors – such as, for example, research and science management, teamwork, work-life balance, mobility, career models, remuneration, financing of research, etc. – prevail these days and consequently impact on research cultures. For only with an understanding of the status quo is it possible to infer recommendations for action and to change framework conditions in such a way that it becomes possible to deviate from well-worn paths and bring about social change, e.g. by distributing resources more justly.

In close coordination with those responsible for the programme within the BMWFJ, the w-fFORTE team focuses on the following points:

• "Knowledge creates advantages" offers workshops on career strategies for women in research and technology and provides targeted information on internal and external events pertaining to career development.
• "Knowledge creates insights" serves to expand the programme’s basic knowledge and presents the findings to the research community.
• "Knowledge creates living science" makes the successes of women in research and technology visible to the public. w-fFORTE shows how varied and attractive the worlds of work in technology and the natural sciences are for women, and at the same time counteracts the under-representation of women in these fields.
• In the scope of the impetus programme "Laura Bassi Centres of Expertise" w-fFORTE is funding research centres for applied basic research at the interface between science and economy that are headed by excellent female scientists. The programme is evaluated on an ongoing basis – the main objective being to find out which factors must be taken into account and how framework conditions must be designed to support a modern research culture that appeals to both women and men alike.

w-fFORTE is intended as both an actively shaping and at the same time a learning programme – the results are made available to other technology programmes and are anchored in the international research community.