female inventors
‘To be a scientist is a joy’: How a Hungarian biochemist helped revolutionize mRNA
Scientists generally don’t seek the limelight, but Dr. Katalin Kariko has been thrust right into it. The once obscure biochemist is now on the covers of magazines and newspapers because of her role in developing mRNA vaccine technology. An idea she started working on in the 1990s when no one thought it would work. She grew up daughter to a butcher, in a poor town near Budapest, where she lived in one room with her family for the first 10 years of her life. During this time, she also learned the skills for success there: determination, hard work and a positive attitude.
Q&A with Denise Bierman
Innovation Council sat down with Denise Bierman, the Founder and CEO of Fontis Organic Skinfood, a premium high performance botanical skinfood brand, to talk about the beginnings of her company and what made it successful.
Addressing the IP Gender Gap
This series of virtual events will take a look at the IP gender gap in the Americas region. Political leaders, heads of IP offices, economists, and scholars will discuss how best to attract underrepresented groups to use the patent system, what data needs to be collected in order to understand the gap, and how to interpret new and existing data in order to develop solutions that will help close the gap.
The High-Level Policy panel will take place on 13 October, 5:30-6:30pm CET // 11:30am-12:30pm EDT // 8:30-9:30am PDT.
The IP Economist panel will take place on 14 October, 5-7pm CET // 11am-1pm EDT // 8-10am PDT.
Lack of diversity in patent holders means ‘half of the population’ isn’t getting needs met, economist Lisa Cook says
Diversity gaps in the U.S. patent system persist, in part, because of an absence of data on patent applicants. This lack of transparency has meant that patent holders are predominantly white, male and wealthy.
A recent study found that women, especially African-American and Latina women, obtain patents at significantly lower rates than men; people of color get approved for patents less often than white people; and individuals from lower-income families are less likely to acquire a patent than those who grew up in affluent families.
“Throughout history, women and underrepresented minorities have not been able to participate fully in each stage of the innovation process,” Lisa Cook, a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University.
The inclusion of these underrepresented groups would evidently also have a positive impact on the economy and would increase U.S. GDP by 2.7% per capita, and by roughly $1 trillion annually. The economic activity from patents is estimated to be over $8 trillion, more than one-third of U.S gross domestic product.
Gender gap in US patents leads to few inventions that help women
The economist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Rembrand Koning, reasoned that the relative scarcity of women’s health products on the market is due to a scarcity of women inventing them. A study published in June confirms this theory: few biotechnology patents are owned by women, and female inventors are significantly more likely than are male ones to patent health products for women.
Teams made up of all women, were 35% more likely than all-male teams to invent technologies relating to women’s health. But teams made up of all women or all men were equally likely to patent technologies for men’s health. If women and men had produced an equal number of patents since 1976, the researchers estimated, there would be 6,500 more female-focused inventions today.
Tehran Municipality honors inspirational women of century
Many women in the history of Iran and especially in the last century have been influential in various social, cultural, political, and economic fields of the country and have worked for the progress of the country, Zahra Behrooz, head of Women’s Affairs Department of Tehran Municipality, stated. The proportion of female inventors to male inventors in Iran is significantly higher than the global average and even higher than the leading countries in the field of patents.
Women Athletes Inspiring your Entrepreneurship & IP Journey: 29 September
The USPTO Texas Regional Office in collaboration with the Texas Chapter of Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPs), which focuses on advancing women in technology, law, and policy, present a panel of women athletes who have innovated as entrepreneurs and created or helped create successful businesses. The virtual event will take place on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CT.
Spotlight on Singapore: 10 Questions for Shiok Meats’ Ka Yi Ling
Innovation Council sat down with Ka Yi Ling, the CTO and Co-Founder of Shiok Meats, a cell-based meat and seafood company in Singapore. An early member of Innovation Council, the company produces delicious and nutritious meats that are at the same time animal-, health- and environment-friendly. A recent tasting event in Singapore confirmed the appeal of the Shiok Meat crustacean meat products to discerning palates.
WIPO Training: Mentoring and Matchmaking Program on IP for Women Entrepreneurs
Open for applications: WIPO women entrepreneurship program for members of indigenous peoples and local communities. The program supports indigenous entrepreneurs in strategically using intellectual property tools to grow their businesses.
Submit your application by September 6, 2021 here.
Knowledge creates action – Invent Together
Invent Together is a coalition of organizations, universities, companies, and other stakeholders dedicated to understanding the diversity gaps in invention and patenting, and to supporting public policy and private initiatives to close them. Closing patent gaps would have significant benefits for individual inventors and society as a whole. Research shows that inventors with patents consistently earn higher incomes on average than non-inventors, even controlling for occupation, migrant status, and other factors.
Learn more about Invent Together and find interesting research in this area here.
Policy approaches to close the intellectual property gender gap
Click here through Innovation Council’s presentation on “Policy approaches to close the intellectual property gender gap”. Innovation Council’s Jennifer Brant and Mark Schultz presented the findings on 29 July during the plenary session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The IC intervention starts at 01:38:52.
Tackling the Gender and Racial Patenting Gap to Drive Innovation: Lessons from Women’s Experiences
This brief describes the challenges and facilitators to success that women inventors face at each stage of the process. It first discusses the systemic barriers to innovation and patenting faced by women, women’s lack of formal education on the patenting process, informal education on patenting and the importance of mentors, and gatekeepers to patenting. Then the brief details how barriers to the patenting process, and the supports women need to overcome them, differ by industry and sector. It concludes with policy and program recommendations that, if implemented, will help promote diversity in the innovation and patenting process. Watch the related panel discussion with women inventors, and Institute for Women’s Policy Research presents their research on the challenges women inventors face based on gender and race and how to overcome them. For more information, visit https://inventtogether.org/
Read the full story and watch the discussion.