Start-up BW Women Lab

Women remain underrepresented in the start-up scene. Start-up BW Women Lab therefore focuses on the point where sustainable change can be most effective: the structures and offerings of Baden-Württemberg's start-up ecosystem.

The focus is not on supporting individual female founders directly. Instead, the Women Lab supports accelerators and comparable programs in developing their outreach, formats, and support offerings to be even more needs-based and gender-sensitive. To this end, the project analyzes existing structures, consolidates needs, and develops practice-oriented measures together with the stakeholders involved.

Start-up BW Women Lab is an initiative of Start-up BW and is anchored within the Start-up BW Women area. The project is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism Baden-Württemberg and coordinated by TRACES, the Transfer Center of the University of Stuttgart.

• Networking: Bringing together relevant stakeholders and existing initiatives.
• Structuring: Consolidating needs and making key areas for development tangible.
• Transparency: Making challenges, potential, and funding gaps visible.
• Exchange: Bringing together experiences, best practices, and transferable approaches.
• Piloting: Testing selected measures and further developing them into practice-oriented impulses for future work.

01 — Analysis

Needs Assessment
In a structured survey, we examine how existing programs are set up and what support needs accelerators identify.

02 — Deep Dive

Exchange & Networking
In in-depth discussions, we refine the results, connect relevant stakeholders, and identify best practices as well as potential synergies within the ecosystem.

03 — Piloting

Lean Implementation
Building on this foundation, we test initial lean formats – from online workshops and best-practice exchange to practice-oriented guides.