Chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals. The road is still long but if there are more and more women in research, the number of “inventors” and patent holders is also growing. This is certified by the European Patent Office (Epo, European Patent Office), which was based on the data of those who filed patent applications (3.9 million from 1979 to 2019), thus drawing a line that shows how in the last 40 years the women who have signed a patent have gone from 2 at 13% and that there is still a lot to do.
Clear progress but the road is long
In Italy, only one inventor out of seven (14.3% of the total in the period between 2010 and 2019) among those who applied for a patent in Europe is female. With this share, Italy ranks 16th among the Member States. We are far from 30% of Latvia, 23% of Spain and we are just under 16% of France. But we exceed the “modest” 10% of Germany and Italy is slightly above the European average which stands at 13.2%. Percentages that do not reflect the presence of women in research, which is much wider, but only those who file patents. Women work mainly in teams (often therefore their contribution is less evident or does not emerge), in universities and research institutions much more than in private companies and multinationals.
This also explains why Sardinia boasts a rate of inventors in patent applications of 27.9%, ranking first in the ranking of Italian regions and fifth in Europe. In Bolzano, this share drops to 4.3 percent.
While the overall rate of inventors in Italy and Europe has been increasing in recent decades (from only 2% at the end of the 1970s to 13.2% in 2019), a strong gender gap remains. The rate of inventors in Europe is higher than that of Japan (9.5%) but lower than that of South Korea (28.3%), China (26.8%) and the United States (15 percent) .
More women in teams, in universities and in life science
The report also highlights that Universities and Public Research Bodies have a significantly higher share of inventors (19.4% in 2010-19 across Europe, 27.9% in Italy) than those of private companies (10 % in Europe, 10.5% in Italy) or among independent inventors (9.3% in Europe, 11.6% in Italy).
Finally, the Epo study reveals that women are not very present in patents in the “traditional” engineering sectors, such as mechanics, automotive, and are confirmed to be more present in the vast galaxy of life science.
Chemistry stands out as the technology sector with the highest share of inventors (22.4% in 2010-19 across Europe, 27.3% in Italy), while mechanical engineering (5.2% across Europe and in Italy) has the lowest share. Besides chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals have percentages of over 30% of European inventors.