Hitting a Goal by Building a Sustainable Bridge: Women Futures in STEM and Innovation
Dr Poonam Malik, who Heads Investments at the University of Strathclyde, has an extensive career working within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change. She is a GlobalScot, a NetZero/Climate Champion for the Scottish Enterprise Board, a board member of Skills Development Scotland and has held several leadership roles, as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB).
With her scientific research analytical and entrepreneurial background and passion for equity and inclusion, Dr Malik shares her experience and thoughts on being a woman in STEM and the work being undertaken to address gender inequality within the sector here in Scotland and poses the question what impact that more female scientists can have on the development of innovation.
From a young age, I was always curious and analytical in nature. I always asked, “what if” and “why” which led to a spiral of more questions! I think that’s what drew me to science; it provided an aspect of certainty, of facts which could be tested. However, the real beauty in science is that what is known today can change, and that tomorrow new answers can appear based on the boundaries and frontiers of science. Our knowledge evolves with new information coming out of latest research, it challenges us to think differently, hypothesise, to adapt and test again – making the need for more research and development an eternal pursuit. Much like any innovator and entrepreneur, it’s about identifying the gaps and opportunities and creating solutions to global challenges.
Interestingly, when we talk about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), currently there is much needed focus on climate action, climate change, solutions to poverty and world hunger. These are all critical goals for the place and our planet and simultaneously, I think it’s equally important to highlight that the UN SDGs talk about gender equality (SDG 5) and innovation (SDG 9), which reinforces the fact that there is need for development in these areas too for the betterment of our people. The United Nations (UN) have a clear ambition to shine a light on these and ensure that we are all working together to achieve equity with these goals.
Imagine - if there were more women in science, and those women were innovating in areas right across the 17 SDGs; naturally, the result would be more diverse thinking in these areas. But how do we know we’re doing enough to encourage women and girls in STEM? At what point do you sit on your laurels and say ‘we've done enough’? Granted, we are making progress but there is still a lot more to do. It is estimated that only 25% of the STEM sector in Scotland is made up of women, and this needs to change.
We are in a better position than we were several years and decades ago, where females didn't have an option to study STEM and computer science subjects. Nowadays all subjects are equally available, but the challenge in changing the perception of society, community and parents towards girls and women in STEM remains. It seems to be societal influences that discourage girls from studying STEM subjects, so there is still much more to be done regarding what is seen as 'the norm' and societal encouragement from the families.
A lot more needs to be done to encourage female innovators that there is support available to them, and that it’s truly embraced and encouraged across Scotland
It's Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been
In a bid to change perceptions, partnerships across Scotland are key. What’s great to see is that the University of Strathclyde already has a partnership with the Weir Group to promote engineering as a career to girls and with Equate Scotland to promote a range of careers available in STEM. When we show that a good career in this field is feasible, we see a real uptake from girls and young women, but I wonder how many of them become professors, senior board leaders or CEOs. Women who strive for these leadership positions or try to start their own businesses as founder entrepreneurs - securing funding proves trickier for them. Decades of research and investment reports show that women receive less than 2% of overall equity funding from investors for their business ideas and therefore struggle to grow their companies. Just as is highlighted in the recent independent Stewart Review into women in entrepreneurship in Scotland ‘Pathways: A new approach for women in entrepreneurship’ – a lot more needs to be done to encourage female innovators that there is support available to them, and that it’s truly embraced and encouraged across Scotland.
We need men, women, government, private, public and third sector organisations to work together to help build the future pipeline, to act as sponsors for supporting and encouraging more women into stretch projects and into commercialisation of intellectual property technology projects to gain experience, be successful and have an opportunity to showcase their potential.
Even looking at my own career pathway - it transitioned across many stages and sectors; travelling abroad to the UK for my PhD research, becoming the first women scientist from my small interior village in Northern India, assuming the role of an entrepreneurial business leader, heading the investments into the commercialisation of university ventures. The young school children from my village couldn't believe that someone who looked like me could have been a professorial scientist or a business entrepreneur. Their impression is still a very traditional view of what a scientist should look like. Children in my son’s school in Scotland were similarly surprised at hearing of my profession. Breaking down more of these barriers is necessary because anyone in our communities should be able to become university professors, CEOs, investors, and business leaders.
The young school children from my village couldn't believe that someone who looked like me could have been a professorial scientist or a business entrepreneur
Are there encouraging signs?
The short answer is yes – there is some great work being done by Equate Scotland; Changing the Chemistry, offering free activities to help develop women's and diverse people’s expertise, essential skills and confidence. Equate Scotland provides key opportunities for female students to make valuable links with the industry via its student network, a network for women STEM students. There are also fantastic business events as a platform for showcasing innovation. In Scotland, 40% of the conferences that take place each year are within the life sciences sector. There are several opportunities to attend these, alongside entrepreneurial events, to discover more about the country's life sciences start-ups. Health, Medtech and life sciences product development cycles are long due to strict adherence to regulatory requirements. There is a shortage of industrial partners and capital which is required for following products through the regulatory pathway to be approved and ready for adoption and market launch. This is why traditional early-stage investors seeking quicker returns on their investments don't easily engage with the companies in this sector, which is where understanding the business opportunity and journey is crucial for patient capital investors. However, during pandemic regulatory processes evolved with many simultaneous steps thus, providing hope to many founders and causing the shift to smaller agile companies which are and path to market timeline reduced hence, driving innovation in the market. This is a positive change and provides an excellent platform for Scotland's science-driven ventures to be at the forefront of this change.
The opening of the new Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) is one such innovative example that will help drive innovation with digital manufacturing process to find solutions to longstanding challenges. The MMIC is a collaboration between CPI, the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Enterprise, UK Research and Innovation and founding industry partners GSK and AstraZeneca and these industrial partners form part of this 'quadruple helix approach' of all right stakeholders being involved. This is one example of game changing 'innovation centres' in Scotland and the opportunities are enormous.
To break down barriers, we need to put parity in STEM and equitable access to opportunities at the heart of sustainable development programmes globally and celebrate those that are leading action and innovation worldwide. We will continue to work to overcome these challenges and embrace equity…
