Engaging More Women in Academic Innovation – All Together – Society of Women Engineers

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Diversity is a key driver of innovation and a critical component of success on a global scale. Countries that deploy strategies to foster greater inclusion of all inventors in the innovation lifecycle will ultimately be best positioned to maximize their gross domestic product and ensure economic prosperity. The U.S is losing ground because it is not fully engaging a significant portion of the inventive talent pool. According to a 2019 report from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, even though women now make up half the workforce, the share of women among all U.S. inventor-patentees is only 12.8%.
To understand factors that encouraged and discouraged academic women’s participation in technology commercialization, members of the AUTM Women Inventors Special Interest Group (WISIG) conducted a survey in November of academic women involved in innovation, invention and/or entrepreneurship. The 168 respondents were at various levels in their career, from entry level to senior, and were from public and private research institutions of varying sizes from all regions of the United States. “Engaging More Women in Academic Innovation: Findings and Recommendations,” published in the National Academy of Inventors Technology and Innovation Journal, outlines the key findings. It offers specific recommendations based on the survey feedback, follow-up interviews with respondents, and the collective experience of technology transfer professionals who work daily with academic innovators.
¨ Almost all of the respondents who participate in technology commercialization efforts reported they were motivated to do so because they wanted to see their research applied in the real world. Other key drivers included: university policies, the search for additional resources for research and development, and potential collaborators and industry connections.
Barriers to participation were referenced throughout the survey responses and during follow-up interviews. These are the most frequently cited barriers from the qualitative and quantitative data:
Recommendations put forth in the paper provide valuable insights into concrete actions that can be taken by technology transfer professions and policy makers to ensure systemic changes that foster greater engagement of academic women and other under-represented populations in all stages of the innovation lifecycle. Because technology transfer professionals manage the complex process of shepherding research discoveries from the lab to the marketplace — from evaluating and protecting discoveries to commercializing the inventions through new and existing companies –they are uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in driving innovation. Focusing efforts to engage STEM-educated women, who generally have an above-average ability to contribute to innovation by developing patentable inventions, has significant potential for both short-term and long-term impact.
Recommendations fall into several major themes including:
– Providing educational opportunities that are accessible and relatable for women academics, whether that’s at times and locations easier to attend, or addressing the unique challenges faced by women in tech commercialization and providing insights and tools for overcoming them.
– Providing relatable mentors who can help guide women through the process. When instructors and mentors are all men, there are no role models in the room; no one who understands or has lived through the unique challenges women in innovation face. It often is not an inviting culture if women are the only in the room or the significant minority. Therefore, the educational programs don’t provide a female perspective. It also means addressing female priorities for commercialization like talking about the social impact of patentable discoveries over the profit potential.
– Getting federal funding agencies to require evidence of a documented institutional Diversity and Inclusion Plan as a weighted criteria on all grant applications
– Providing funding and recognition to technology transfer offices that are actively implementing and supporting programs to foster diversity and inclusion.
– Tracking various demographic metrics of invention disclosures and patent applications
The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) subcommittee on STEM, communications team used the information from the publication to create a video that is now available on YouTube. The video really drives home the need for greater engagement of women in innovation.
The WISIG’s next steps will be to engage with policy makers, the technology transfer community, and other synergistic organizations interested in refining and implementing these recommendations. Organizations interested in collaborating should contact Jane Muir and Forough Ghahramani at autmwisig@gmail.com.
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All Together is the blog of the Society of Women Engineers. Find stories about SWE members, engineering, technology, and other STEM related topics. It’s up-to-date information and news about the Society and how our members are making a difference everyday.
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