To make Inclusive Gendered Innovation work in practice, we also need supportive policies and frameworks.

This is where Inclusive Gendered Innovation Policies (IGIPs) come in. IGIPs provide a practical way to make inclusion systematic and sustainable. They are especially important for research and innovation funders, which set the priorities, rules, and expectations that shape research systems.

Inclusive Gendered Innovation Policies (IGIPs) can be implemented by funders to embed gender and diversity into their programmes and funding procedures.

Well-designed IGIPs help to:

• set clear expectations for inclusive research and innovation
• integrate IGI into application and evaluation criteria
• provide guidance and training for applicants, reviewers, and programme staff
• monitor outcomes and support continuous learning and improvement

These elements help funding organisations provide consistency, support, and accountability. With IGIPs in place, inclusive innovation becomes not just an option, but a standard for quality and fairness in science and technology.

In short:

• Inclusive Gendered Innovation is about doing better science and innovation by including the realities of all people, not just the few.
• IGIPs create the institutional conditions that make this possible. They turn inclusion into a shared standard by setting expectations, building capacity, supporting evaluation, and creating space to learn and improve.

Explore how to use IGI in your research or project

Learn how RFOs can promote IGI through policy

Inclusive Gendered Innovation is not just about doing what is fair. It is about doing what works. By recognising how people’s experiences differ across gender, age, background, and other factors, innovation becomes more useful, robust, and impactful. Whether in research, policy, or product design, applying this perspective improves outcomes for users, strengthens institutions, and helps ensure that public and private investments lead to lasting value.

The relevance of Inclusive Gendered Innovation becomes clear when we look at its benefits across different parts of the research and innovation ecosystem from businesses and research teams to funders and society as a whole.

Better products. Broader markets. Lower risks. Stronger returns.

Inclusive Gendered Innovation helps businesses create products and services that actually work for the people who use them. When innovation is built around a narrow idea of the user, it often leads to missed market opportunities, reduced performance, and even costly failures.

By considering gender and other aspects of user diversity, companies gain a more accurate view of real-world needs and behaviours. This leads to smarter design choices, higher usability, and stronger market fit across industries such as health, mobility, consumer goods, and digital technologies.

Inclusive Innovation can

• open up new markets by designing for underserved user groups
• reduce failure rates and redesign costs by addressing risks early
• increase customer trust and brand loyalty
• improve compliance with public procurement and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards
• foster more creative and adaptive innovation processes

Using inclusive methods such as participatory design and norm-critical analysis helps companies challenge hidden assumptions and unlock fresh perspectives. These methods are practical, proven, and increasingly expected by funders, investors, and regulators. To apply them effectively, companies benefit from multidisciplinary teams that combine technical know-how with skills in user research, inclusive design, and social analysis. These teams are better equipped to deliver innovation that performs well in real markets and earns lasting credibility.

For companies it is key to understand that Inclusive Gendered Innovation is not a niche concern. It is a strategic asset that strengthens product quality, market resilience, and long-term value.

Stronger research. Higher impact. Better funding results

Inclusive Gendered Innovation supports researchers in producing work that is more relevant, and widely recognised. It improves how research questions are framed, how data is collected and interpreted, and how findings translate into real-world solutions.

Including sex, gender, and diversity dimensions from the start helps uncover hidden patterns, overlooked risks, and new opportunities for insight. It also increases the chances of receiving funding, especially in programmes like Horizon Europe, where inclusive approaches are part of the excellence criteria.

Inclusive Innovation can:

• strengthen research design by reducing bias and blind spots
• increase the relevance and uptake of results across different user groups
• improve success rates in funding applications through better alignment with policy goals
• encourage interdisciplinary thinking and intellectual curiosity
• support ethical, responsible, and socially engaged research practices

Inclusive approaches are especially valuable in areas where user needs vary such as health, digitalisation, climate, and mobility but they are increasingly relevant across all fields. Researchers who use tools like Sex, Gender, and Diversity Analysis (SG&DA) not only enhance the quality of their work, they position themselves at the forefront of responsible innovation.

It is important to keep in mind that Inclusive Gendered Innovation is not about adding complexity for its own sake. It is about asking sharper questions, using better methods, and delivering results that matter to broader segments of society.

Stronger funding outcomes. Greater accountability. Alignment with EU priorities.

Research and Innovation funders are key to shaping the direction, quality, and impact of research and innovation. By integrating Inclusive Gendered Innovation into programme design, funding calls, and evaluation criteria, they strengthen both scientific outcomes and the public value of their activities.

Inclusive Gendered Innovation provides RFOs with practical tools to support research that is more inclusive, relevant, and responsible. It helps ensure that proposals consider real-world diversity and that funding decisions promote a broader concept of excellence in method and impact.

Funders that embed inclusive approaches can:

• improve the quality of proposals by encouraging more robust and thoughtful research design
• promote fairness and responsibility in the funding process
• comply with EU policy frameworks, including Horizon Europe’s requirements for sex and gender analysis
• increase the societal relevance and uptake of funded projects
• support internal learning and continuous improvement

Inclusive Gendered Innovation also helps shift how research quality is assessed: When reviewers are trained to recognise intersectional gender analysis, evaluations become more comprehensive, leading to better-informed funding decisions and stronger outcomes.

Inclusive Gendered Innovation Policies make this change actionable. By implementing them, funders can offer clear expectations, ready-to-use tools, and structured processes to embed inclusion into funding systems in a consistent and effective way.

By taking this approach, funders raise the bar for excellence, increase the impact of their investments, and contributing to building a more inclusive research ecosystem.

More just innovation. Greater public trust. Stronger societal impact.

Inclusive Gendered Innovation helps ensure that science and technology benefit the full diversity of people they are meant to serve. By addressing real-life experiences and inequalities from the start, it contributes to solutions that are more ethical, accessible, and effective.

When innovation overlooks certain groups, it can lead to harmful consequences. This includes medical tools that fail to detect conditions in women, transportation systems that ignore the needs of caregivers, or algorithms that reproduce social bias. Inclusive approaches prevent these outcomes by recognising that different people experience problems and solutions in different ways.

At a societal level, Inclusive Gendered Innovation can:

• reduce inequality between social groups by designing for more equitable access and use
• contribute to sustainability by creating solutions that work for more people over time
• increase public trust in research and innovation by making it more transparent and inclusive
• support democratic accountability through participation and responsiveness

In critical areas such as health, climate, mobility, and digitalisation, integrating gender and diversity dimensions supports innovation that is safer, more relevant, and more widely accepted. It helps build institutions that are not only more responsible, but also more resilient in the face of future challenges.

As societies grow more diverse and interconnected, Inclusive Gendered Innovation provides a clear path to doing research and innovation that truly serve the public interest.

Across all parts of the research and innovation ecosystem, Inclusive Gendered Innovation offers more than a corrective to exclusion. It is a powerful enabler of quality, relevance, and long-term value. Whether improving product design, strengthening research impact, enhancing funding outcomes, or building public trust, IGI provides tools and strategies that work in practice. Embracing these approaches is not just about doing what is right: It is about creating innovation that truly performs in a changing world.

Now that we introduced the core arguments for why Inclusive Gendered Innovation matters to researchers, companies, funders and society, you may want to dig deeper. The resources below offer real-world examples, research insights, and policy frameworks that inform this Support Package.

They draw on international expertise, EU-funded initiatives, and leading academic work and are grouped thematically for easy navigation.

Policy & Programme Design

• GENDERACTIONplus (2025): Driving Forward Inclusive Gender Analysis in R&I Policies: Recommendations for Framework Programme 10. Position Paper No. 8: Outlines policy recommendations for embedding inclusive gender analysis in EU research funding, based on international expert consultations.
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2023): A New Era of Sex and Gender Science: Impact Report 2015–2022: Reports progress on integrating sex and gender in Canadian health research through training, policy, and evaluation.

Research Practices & Methodologies

• Hunt, L. et al. (2022): A Framework for Sex, Gender, and Diversity Analysis in Research. Science, 377(6614), 1492–1495: Proposes a framework to help researchers include sex, gender, and diversity analysis in scientific research.
• Schiebinger, L. et al. (Eds.) (2011–2024): Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering and Environment: Presents case studies showing how gender analysis enhances research excellence and innovation across disciplines.

Conceptual & Theoretical Foundations

• Hankivsky, O. (2014): Intersectionality 101. Institute for Intersectionality Research and Policy, Simon Fraser University: Introduces intersectionality as a lens for understanding overlapping social inequalities in policy and research.
• Eigenmann, L., et al. (2024): Intersectional Transformation or ‘Gender Equality+’? Intersectionality in EU Research Policies. European Journal of Politics and Gender: Analyses how intersectionality is addressed in EU research policy and where gaps remain.
• Johanson, E. (2024): Sex and Gender Perspectives as Quality? On the Controversy About Gender and Science in Sweden. NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research: Explores debates in Sweden over whether gender perspectives in research threaten scientific autonomy.

Explore how to implement IGI in your work

Learn about policies that support inclusive innovation

Integrating gender and diversity into research and innovation content is not always straightforward. While the benefits are well established, many researchers, evaluators, and funders encounter resistance from individuals, institutions, or disciplinary norms.

This section addresses common concerns and offers constructive strategies for moving forward. Based on academic research and insights from the INSPIRE Community of Practice, the aim is to support change by building confidence, not pressure.

For additional guidance on managing resistance at the institutional or project level, see Dealing with Resistances. Researchers seeking to reflect critically on their own methods and assumptions will find specific strategies in Continous reflection of methodological process and findings.

Resistance can take many forms, often linked to uncertainty, lack of time, or fear of change.

Examples include:

• “This doesn’t apply to my field”: Gender or inclusion may be seen as irrelevant, especially in STEM fields
• Institutional hesitation: Organisations may fear extra workload, lack expertise, or worry about political sensitivity
• Concerns about quality: Some assume inclusion will lower scientific standards
• Fear of failure: Practitioners may worry they do not have the right expertise or might get it wrong
• Cultural discomfort: In some settings, talking about gender remains sensitive or contested

Resistance is often not rooted in direct opposition, but in structural and cultural challenges:

• Lack of clear guidance or tools to act on inclusion
• Absence of mandates or incentives from funders and institutions
• Power imbalances and masculine norms in research cultures
• Disciplinary traditions that see inclusion as secondary or unrelated to excellence
• Uncertainty about terminology or expectations

Here are some ways to address resistance and support progress:

• Link inclusion to excellence: Show how gender and diversity analysis leads to better science. Argue that it improves relevance, reduces design flaws, and enhances impact. Frame inclusion is part of quality, not a challenge to it.
• Use real-world examples: Point to practical cases from this Support Package and EU projects such as Gendered Innovations, SUPERA or INSPIRE Case Studies. These help shift perceptions from theory to practice.
• Shift the entry point: Start with terms like user needs, human-centred or context-aware design, or stakeholder engagement. These often create less resistance and lead naturally to issues of gender and diversity
• Start small: Not every project can do everything. Small actions such as checking whether a method works for different users help build momentum.
• Support learning and capacity building: Provide training, peer exchange, and space to ask questions. Change is easier when people feel supported rather than judged.
• Build internal networks: Change often starts with a few motivated actors. Allies across departments, funding bodies, or research institutions can drive momentum and help shift organisational culture.
• Supporting long-term change: Inclusion takes time, but it also builds over time. Institutions that invest in IGIPs and capacity-building are better positioned to adapt to policy shifts, societal expectations, and research challenges.

As INSPIRE and other EU-funded projects show, resistance is not a stopping point. It is a starting point for building stronger, more inclusive systems with practical tools, peer learning, and institutional support, research teams can amplify good practices and shift norms. Throughout the Support Package you will find actionable advise that is target to overcoming resistances throughout every part of the research and innovation and funding cycle.

Now that we’ve outlined the main challenges and strategies for integrating Inclusive Gendered Innovation into research and innovation, you may want to dig deeper.

The resources below offer conceptual frameworks, policy guidance, and empirical studies grouped by theme to help you explore the aspects most relevant to your work:

Enabling Change through Policy and Programme Design

• Dvořáčková, J. (2025). Addressing resistances to policies promoting sex/gender analysis in research and innovation content (GENDERACTIONplus Position Paper No. 14, forthcoming). Provides a typology of resistances and targeted strategies for research funders to overcome pushback against the integration of sex/gender analysis in funding calls and evaluations.
• Schiffbänker, H., Reidl, S., Walker, D., Beranek, S., Wienand, C., Holzinger, F., Karaulova, M., & Bührer, S. (2025). D3.10: An inclusive innovation system for the private sector – Research funder perspective. INSPIRE Project. Zenodo. Explores how funders can shape inclusive innovation by integrating gender and diversity into funding instruments, with lessons from RFO practice in the private sector.
• European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). (n.d.). Institutional transformation – Dealing with resistance. Outlines key forms of resistance and strategies for addressing them within the broader framework of institutional transformation and gender mainstreaming.
• Ginès i Fabrellas, A., & Avogaro, M. (2021). Engaging stakeholders and tackling resistances to mainstream gender equality in AHMSSBL research institutions (Toolkit, WP8.4, Version 1.0). EQUAL4EUROPE Consortium.
• Sağlamer, G., Tan, M. G., Çağlayan, H., Almgren, N., Salminen‐Karlsson, M., Baisner, L., Myers, E. S., Jørgensen, G. T., Aye, M., Bausch, S., O’Connor, P., O’Hagan, C., Richardson, I., Conci, M., Apostolov, G., & Topuzova, I. (2016). Handbook on resistance to gender equality in academia (Expert Report No. FESTA-2016-010). FESTA Project. http://www.resge.eu/. Provides conceptual and empirical insights into how resistance manifests in academic institutions and suggests approaches to counter it through cultural and structural change.
• Ferguson, L., & Mergaert, L. (2021). Resistances to structural change in gender equality in higher education. SUPERA project, Yellow Window. Synthesises experiences from Horizon 2020 structural change projects, identifying common resistance patterns and offering practical tools to support implementation.

Improving Research through Inclusive Methods

• Hunt, L., Nielsen, M. W., & Schiebinger, L. (2022). A framework for sex, gender, and diversity analysis in research. Science, 377(6614), 1492–1495. Proposes a framework for integrating sex, gender, and diversity analysis into research funding policy and practice, based on a global review of agency approaches.
• Schiebinger, L., & Hunt, L. (2021). Integrating sex, gender and intersectional analysis into research: Lessons from international practice. Stanford University & CIHR. Draws on international examples to demonstrate how intersectional analysis can improve research quality and impact across disciplines.
• Nielsen, M. W., Alegria, S., Börjeson, L., Etzkowitz, H., Falk-Krzesinski, H. J., Joshi, A., ... & Schiebinger, L. (2017). Gender diversity leads to better science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(8), 1740–1742. Presents empirical evidence showing that greater gender diversity in research teams leads to higher quality and more innovative scientific outcomes.
• Powell, S., Ah-King, M., & Hussénius, A. (2017). “Are we to become a gender university?”: Facets of resistance to a gender equality project. Gender, Work & Organization, 24(1), 56–70. Analyses internal resistance within universities to a gender equality initiative, highlighting emotional, symbolic, and discursive dimensions of pushback.