IIE-Net’s five themes offer an ambitious, rigorous and relevant program of research with clear objectives which build on previous work and extensive consultation with all stakeholders. These include:

Theme 1: Macro Issues / Definitions and Discourses to explore ways in which entrepreneurship and innovation are defined and constructed, and the effect of these discourses on policies and practices affecting women and diverse groups. Multiple methods will be used to explore the representations of entrepreneurs and stereotypes in traditional and digital media in Canada, with comparisons to other countries.

Theme 2: Benchmarking and Ecosystem Mapping will examine: how the ecosystem is constituted; how actors and forces within it operate; the ways in which the definitions and discourses shape what gets measured and valued; and the extent to which we measure and assess these components and the connections.

Theme 3: Meso Issues / Organizational Processes will explore how different organizations that comprise the ecosystem (educational institutions, funders and financiers, government, intermediaries, incubators, community organizations) enable or constrain women and diverse entrepreneurs.

Theme 4: Individual Issues (re)considers the ways in which we understand the experiences of women and diverse entrepreneurs, their intentions, perceptions, needs, and behaviours as well as how other actors behave towards them.

Theme 5: Promising Policies, Practices, and Tools will use evidence to inform the assessment and development of effective initiatives that advance women and diverse entrepreneurs.