Even though innovation is considered vital for development of society, less women than men are involved in research-based innovation, in particular related to technology in fields where women are a minority. "FixIT" aimed to contribute to increase women's participation in research and innovation in Sogn & Fjordane and Hordaland, particularly to improve the gender balance in the projects under the Norwegian Research Council programme FORREGION, with the aim to identify, mobilize and recruit women to these innovation projects. FORREGION is a program stimulating and mobilizing industries to engage in research-based innovation. FixIT has been led by Vestlandsforsking in collaboration with Høgskulen på Vestlandet and has had several regional partners.

A main goal for FixIT has been to develop a "balance competence package" that will contribute to a general increase in awareness and knowledge about gendered structures in research and innovation. A balance competence course has been offered to innovation actors from private and public sector, aiming to increase the competence among FORREGION participants about which mechanisms that work to include and exclude certain groups. A central part of the course was to share knowledge about tools that can contribute to an improved gender balance. Finally, the activities have been evaluated, and the balance competence package will be made available for other FORREGION and innovation actors.

Western Norway Research Institute with Hilde G. Corneliussen was project leader for FixIT. Project partners included Western Norway University of Applied Sciences with representatives from two FORREGION projects (Teknoløft Sogn & Fjordane and Kabis). In addition, there has been a wide group involved that includes private and public sector, with IT-forum Sogn & Fjordane (now IT-forum Vest), Innovation Norway, the women's networks Girl Geek Dinners Førde and Girl Geek Dinners Bergen, Oda network for women in tech, Bergen. FixIT has also been connected to Nordwit, a Nordic Centre of Excellence doing research on women's technology-related careers (nordwit.com). Nordwit has contributed with research-based knowledge for the balance competence package.

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