Data from two decades of patent filings from across the world shows that only 4% of international patents were invented exclusively by women. This statistic, along with the many others that are shared in WIPO’s report (The Global Gender Gap in Innovation and Creativity), highlight that we still have a long way to go to close the gender gap in patenting.

But, as you’ll hear in this episode, it’s not all doom and gloom. There has been slow but consistent movement in the right direction for many years, and with people like Intan Hamdan Livramento, Elodie Carpentier, and Julio Raffo, there are many reasons to be hopeful about achieving gender parity. 

In this episode, we are joined by three invaluable members of the WIPO team who are here to talk us through some of the key findings that are outlined in their report and their thoughts on what can be done to increase the number of women inventors and patent-holders (and why this is a goal worth working towards!). 

In This Episode:

[00:35] The focal topic of today’s episode. 

[00:48] Introducing today’s three guests from WIPO; Intan, Elodie, and Julio. 

[02:39] Intan explains the motivation behind WIPO’s updated gender gap report that was recently released. 

[05:04] The methodology and data sources that were used to formulate the report. 

[11:07] Statistics from the report that highlight the gender gap in the patenting space. 

[14:03] One of the main reasons for the gap between the number of women inventors and women-held patents. 

[15:25] Factors contributing to the positive trend in the number of women inventors in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

[19:04] Shifts that have taken place in terms of the patent gender gap in Asia since 2001. 

[20:27] Policies that Japan has implemented to increase the number of women scientists in the country. 

[22:32] Countries with the highest women inventor rates and some of the potential reasons behind this. 

[25:40] An exploration of why Scandinavian countries have surprisingly low levels of women inventors. 

[29:09] The importance of understanding group dynamics within the innovation ecosystem. 

[32:31] Why there is an urgent need for increased participation of women in the innovation and creative industries. 

[38:53] When gender parity in patenting is expected to be achieved at the current rate of change. 

Resources:

The Global Gender Gap in Innovation and Creativity

Elodie Carpentier on LinkedIn

Julio Raffo on LinkedIn

Intan Hamdan-Livramento on LinkedIn