Event description
Piazza of Future Ateliers.
StartHER - Women's Entrepreneurship Lab is an Academy designed to support female students, PhD candidates, researchers and young entrepreneurs under 35 in developing a business project, with a particular focus on reducing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Over three days, the programme combines lectures on economic, financial and communication issues with a practical lab based on methods such as Design Thinking and the Business Model Canvas, supported by internal and external mentors. Participants work directly on their own business ideas, progressively developing them into structured projects and final pitches. The strongest proposals are selected for presentation at the public event PURE - Parma University Research & Entrepreneurship.
StartHER offers three intensive days of training, alternating taught modules led by University of Parma academics and external experts with hands-on project work supported by internal and external mentors. Sessions address the economic, financial and communication aspects of starting a business, with specific attention to gender issues and the European context. In the practical strand, participants develop their own entrepreneurial ideas using Design Thinking and tools such as the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas. The lab guides them from defining the problem and value proposition to structuring a business model and preparing a pitch. The programme concludes with presentations to a technical committee and the mentors. Selected projects are subsequently showcased at PURE - Parma University Research & Entrepreneurship, and an English written version will also contribute to the final Parma 2027 dossier.