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Founded in 2009, the Global Innovation Management Institute is a global nonprofit standard certification board for innovation and innovation management. Better Ideas, Bigger Results.

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IPMA and GIMI Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Advance Project and Innovation Management

The International Project Management Association (IPMA) and the Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI) are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking the start of a strategic collaboration to strengthen the global development of project and innovation management.

Through this partnership, IPMA and GIMI will jointly promote professional standards, certification programs, research, and events, leveraging their complementary strengths to enhance competences and foster sustainable impact worldwide.

Key areas of collaboration include:

  • Cross-promotion of certifications and training (IPMA’s project management standards and certifications alongside GIMI’s innovation management programs).
  • Joint events and webinars, including participation in IPMA’s World Congress, Global Project Profession Forum, and GIMI’s Innovation Awards and Think Tank series.
  • Development of integrated certification programs to combine project management and innovation leadership skills.
  • Regional cooperation in the Middle East and United States, aligning efforts with IPMA-USA and IPMA UAE office. GIMI and IPMA-USA have formalized a strategic partnership to collaborate on project management and innovation in the USA.
  • Research and publications, with reciprocal contributions to IPMA and GIMI journals, platforms, and practitioner magazines.
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Prof. Dr. Mladen Vukomanović, President of IPMA, said:

IPMA has always been at the forefront of advancing competences for sustainable project success. By joining forces with GIMI, we are creating a bridge between project management and innovation management — two disciplines that are increasingly inseparable in today’s complex world. Together, we will empower professionals to deliver change and innovation with lasting impact.

Dr. Hitendra Patel, CEO of GIMI, added:

At GIMI, our mission is to make innovation a global professional discipline. Partnering with IPMA, a pioneer in project management, allows us to combine our expertise and networks to shape the future of work, foster agility and creativity, and support organizations in navigating transformation. This collaboration is a natural step forward for the professions of innovation and project management.

Mr. Timothy Jaques, President of IPMA-USA, added:

“More than ever, the world needs competent leaders who are equipped to handle modern, complex projects. We are excited to create new innovation and project management capabilities that our members can deliver in the real world.”

 

For enquiries, please contact: info@ipma.world

GIMI and IPMA-USA Form Strategic Alliance to Drive Global Excellence in Innovation and Project Management

While each organization has carved its own path in advancing excellence, GIMI as the leading nonprofit certifying body in innovation management, and IPMA-USA as the U.S. representative of the world’s first project management association, both share a vision of empowering individuals and organizations to achieve sustainable growth. This collaboration will combine their expertise, networks, and thought leadership to expand professional growth opportunities, deliver joint initiatives, and promote cross-disciplinary learning on a global scale.

“Innovation and project management are two sides of the same coin—one creates new possibilities, the other turns them into reality. By joining forces with IPMA-USA, we are bringing together the disciplines of imagination and execution, so that professionals worldwide can not only design bold ideas but also deliver them with impact. This alliance is about empowering leaders to drive meaningful change in a world that demands both creativity and competence”, said GIMI CEO Hitendra Patel

“More than ever, the world needs competent leaders who are equipped to handle modern, complex projects. We are excited to create new innovation and project management capabilities that our members can deliver in the real world,” said IPMA-USA president Tim Jaques.   

This partnership marks the beginning of a shared journey, one that will leverage GIMI’s innovation expertise and IPMA-USA’s competence-based  project management standards to serve a common purpose: preparing leaders to navigate complexity, seize opportunity, and create a more innovative and sustainable future.

About GIMI
The Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI) is the world’s largest nonprofit certifying body dedicated to advancing innovation management. With 18,000 members in over 116 countries, GIMI provides globally recognized certifications, thought leadership, and a vibrant network of professionals committed to driving innovation across industries. Learn more at https://www.giminstitute.org/

About IPMA-USA
IPMA-USA is the U.S. Member Association of the International Project Management Association, the world’s first project management professional body with a presence in over 70 countries. IPMA-USA promotes competence-based standards, professional certifications, and leadership in sustainable project management. Learn more at www.ipma-usa.org. 

 

Where Are the Women in Innovation? We’re solving problems—just not for everyone

Innovation transforms economies, improves lives, and reimagines what’s possible. But what happens when innovation doesn’t include everyone?

Today, too many innovations are still being designed without women in the room. In labs, boardrooms, startups, and funding rounds, women remain underrepresented—and that absence shows in the solutions we produce.

The question is not just “Where are the women in innovation?”
It’s: How much better would our solutions be if they truly included them?

 
1. Women Make 80% of Financial Decisions—Yet Are Rarely Involved in Creating the Products They Buy

Women control $31.8 trillion in global consumer spending (NielsenIQ, 2024) and drive 70-80% of household purchasing decisions (World Metrics, 2024)
Despite this, they remain vastly underrepresented in the innovation pipeline:

  • Only 16% of inventors listed on patents are women (WIPO, 2022)

     

  • Fewer than 30% of product development roles are held by women (McKinsey, 2023)

     

  • Just 2.3% of VC funding goes to all-women-founded startups (Crunchbase, 2022)

     

This isn’t a pipeline issue—it’s an access and recognition problem. Women are already innovating. But their work is undervalued, underfunded, or ignored.

 
2. Innovation Has Historically Come Through a Male Lens

History shows what happens when women are left out—or erased:

  • Rosalind Franklin’s DNA breakthrough was overshadowed by Watson and Crick’s Nobel Prize

     

  • Hedy Lamarr’s co-invention of frequency-hopping—key to Wi-Fi—went unrecognized in her lifetime

     

  • Lise Meitner’s discovery of nuclear fission was credited to Otto Hahn

     

  • Margaret Knight had to sue to stop a man from patenting her invention for flat-bottomed paper bags

     

These are not exceptions—they reveal a system that silences women’s contributions.

Today, women are innovating in overlooked areas—childcare, maternal health, mental health—but these fields are often dismissed as “soft” or secondary.

Many products—from phones to policies—are designed around a male default. The result? Design flaws that range from frustrating to dangerous:

  • Smartphones too large for smaller hands

     

  • Protective equipment that doesn’t fit women’s bodies

     

  • Crash test dummies based on average men, leaving women 73% more likely to be seriously injured (NHTSA, 2022)

     

  • Medical trials that excluded women, leading to misdiagnoses and incorrect treatments

     

Even space isn’t immune: NASA canceled an all-female spacewalk in 2019 due to a lack of medium-sized suits.

And in tech? Apple’s HealthKit launched without a menstrual tracker—because “no one thought of it.”

These aren’t minor oversights. They reflect a system where men’s needs are the norm—and women’s are optional.

 
3. Even Today, Innovation for Women Often Means “Shrink It and Pink It”

Too often, products designed “for women” are just smaller versions of male-focused designs—colored pink:

  • “Bic for Her” pens: identical to regular pens, just pastel

     

  • Pink tools with no ergonomic adjustments

     

  • Fitness trackers that don’t fit women’s wrists or needs

     

  • VR headsets that ignore different facial structures or hairstyles

     

  • Voice assistants that default to female personas, reinforcing stereotypes

     

What’s missing is real problem-solving.

By contrast, when women lead innovation, we get:

  • Thinx: Period underwear replacing tampons

     

  • Willow: Silent, wearable breast pumps

     

  • Elvie: Tech supporting pelvic floor health

     

  • Hey Jane: Telemedicine abortion care

     

  • Flex: Redesigned menstrual discs for comfort

     

This isn’t about adding a feminine touch. It’s about solving the right problems—with empathy, precision, and creativity.

 
4. This Is a Massive Untapped Opportunity—So How Do We Capture It?

The areas where women lead—caregiving, maternal health, financial inclusion—are often dismissed as “niche.” But that’s a failure of imagination, not market size. 

When you design for women, you serve households, communities, and economies.

Consider the numbers:

  • Care Economy: Worth over $6 trillion globally, and growing (World Economic Forum, 2023)
  • Menstrual & Maternal Health: Impacts 2+ billion people (WHO, 2024), yet receives less than 2% of VC funding (Forbes, 2024)
  • Workplace Flexibility & Mental Health: Essential to retaining talent post-pandemic
  • Financial Inclusion: Women control vast spending power yet remain underserved by banks and insurers

By 2025, women are projected to hold over 60% of the world’s wealth.
By 2030, $30 trillion will move into their hands via intergenerational transfer (McKinsey, 2022).

This isn’t just the future of inclusion—it’s the future of business.

 
5. More Women in Innovation = Better Business, Smarter Solutions

The case for inclusion isn’t just moral—it’s measurable.

  • Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 33% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability (Mc Kinsey & Co, 2023)
  • Inclusive teams outperform non-inclusive teams by 80% in business performance (Center for Human Capital Innovation, 2024).

     

Investing in gender-inclusive innovation isn’t charity—it’s strategy.

According to GIMI’s Innovation Potential Assessment, 64% of women score in the high innovation category—excelling in empathy, reframing, and problem sensing.

These capabilities are foundational to the Diverge → Connect → Converge → Emerge model. At the divergence stage, diverse teams identify better problems—and ultimately deliver better solutions. Homogeneous teams miss what they don’t see.

What Can We Do Monday Morning?
  1. Start Early—and Sustain It
  • Rewire Education: Teach innovation across all subjects, not just STEM. Highlight women innovators.
  • Build Mentorship Pipelines: Connect girls to women leaders across fields.
    Train Teachers: Use tools like UNESCO’s Gender Equality Toolkit to counter classroom bias.

     

  1. Fix the System—Not the Women
  • Redefine Innovation: Prioritize caregiving, health, and inclusion—not just tech.
  • Diversify Decision-Makers: Put more women in roles shaping strategy and funding.
    Design for Her: Support women-led startups with targeted capital and scale support.

     

  1. Fund What Matters
  • Invest Through a Gender Lens: Back funds like Aruwa Capital, Portfolia, The Case for Her.
  • Set Procurement Targets: Allocate 10–20% of contracts to women-led innovators.
  • Demand Transparency: Require gender-disaggregated VC funding data.

     

  1. Make Women Visible
  • Celebrate, Spotlight, Repeat: Recognize women innovators publicly.
  • Teach Her-Story: Include overlooked female inventors in education and media.
  • Call Out the Gaps: No women on stage? No female founders pitching? Ask who was excluded.

     

When Women Lead Innovation, Everyone Wins

Innovation drives progress—but too often, it excludes half the world. When women aren’t in the room, we miss real needs, overlook trillion-dollar markets, and reinforce outdated defaults.

Women control 70-80% of consumer spending and will hold most global wealth within this decade. Yet they receive just 2% of venture funding and remain sidelined in innovation roles.

This isn’t just a gap—it’s a missed opportunity.
More women in innovation means better ideas, stronger returns, and smarter solutions for all.

If we want innovation that truly works, we must build it with—and for—everyone.

 
——-
References

Center for Human Capital Innovation. (2024). Inclusive teams outperform non-inclusive teams by 80% in business performance. Retrieved from https://centerforhci.org/diversity-as-a-revenue-engine-what-16-studies-reveal/

Crunchbase. (2022). VC funding statistics. Retrieved from https://www.crunchbase.com/

Forbes. (2024). Less than 2% of VC funding goes to menstrual and maternal health. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/

McKinsey & Company. (2022). By 2030, $30 trillion will move into women’s hands via intergenerational transfer. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/

McKinsey & Company. (2023). Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 33% more likely to outperform peers on profitability. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/

NielsenIQ. (2024). Women control $31.8 trillion in global consumer spending. Retrieved from https://nielseniq.com/

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (2022). Women 73% more likely to be seriously injured in crashes. Retrieved from https://www.nhtsa.gov/

World Economic Forum. (2023). Care Economy worth over $6 trillion globally and growing. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/

World Health Organization (WHO). (2024). Menstrual and maternal health impacts 2+ billion people. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/

World Metrics. (2024). Women drive 70-80% of household purchasing decisions. Retrieved from https://worldmetrics.com/

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (2022). Only 16% of inventors listed on patents are women. Retrieved from https://www.wipo.int/

Hitendra Patel
CEO, GIMI
Erila Haska
COO, GIMI

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