The PANDA approach as a method for creating female STEMpreneurs

Female influence in the context of female entrepreneurship especially in the industries in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been found to be gender biased. But how to create more female entrepreneurs in STEM industries (STEMpreneurs)? The German university Hochschule Fresenius has developed a project, named PANDA, which connects established companies of the STEM industry and their business ideas with students of STEM study paths. The target of PANDA is to enable companies to innovate like a startup and on the other hand to inspire students of STEM study paths to become an entrepreneur. Caused by the discussion about female influences and the small share of female entrepreneurs in STEM industries this study has the motivation to analyze if an approach like PANDA can contribute to increase the share of female entrepreneurs in STEM industries. This is achieved through the description of the approach in the context of the Open Innovation framework and the analysis of the share of female students (42 %) in 9 executed PANDA projects.