Page 29 - T-I JOURNAL19 4

676 SOHAR ET AL. GENDER DATA GAP 677

utility patent category, we find a marked difference For example, 61% of men and just 46% of women innovation based on gender? kept intentionally short in the hopes of increasing
in women’s participation across technologies, with holding STEM doctoral degrees work in research 2. What are the barriers that prevent collection participation and was introduced through an email
more women inventors named on chemical patents and development positions (22). of data by gender on participation rates in com- providing the survey link and a brief introduction
than electrical or mechanical patents” (9). In their Frietsch et al. (19) find that, internationally, the mercialization activity? about the AUTM/WIC and the WIC/MSC and its
international analysis, Frietsch et al. note low shares relative contribution of women between 2003 and 3. What are industry standard software programs mission. Survey Monkey® was used to collect and
of female patenting in the U.S. in the top two fields 2005—averaged across all technological fields—is available for monitoring technology transfer monitor data.
of pharmaceuticals and basic chemicals and found highest in Spain (12.3%), followed by France (10.2%) activities? A master member list was obtained from the
that, overall, the U.S. comes in below the interna- and a group of countries with similar levels (of more AUTM Metrics Committee, and the WIC/MSC sur-
tional average in female patentees (19). than 8%) consisting of Denmark, Australia, the U.S., Research Design vey was open from October 6 to October 16, 2015.
In IT fields, the overall level of female participation Belgium, and Sweden. At the lower end of the scale Survey research was determined to be the best The survey was sent to 189 university TTOs in the
in IT patents remains low; however, recent trends are are Germany (4.7%) and Austria (3.2%). The gen- method suited to this type of inquiry. In order to U.S. After this time, offices that had not responded
promising. While women held only 2% of all IT pat- eral trend over time has been a strong increase in develop a better understanding of how TTOs col- to the survey were identified, and each WIC/MSC
ents in 1980, the share increased to approximately 6% women’s contributions to technology output in lect and utilize demographic information for their committee member received a number of TTOs with
in 2005 and 8% in 2010. Women’s patenting patterns most countries, but it is still at a relatively low level. inventors, data and information was gathered from which to follow-up. Preference was placed on dis-
differ widely from one organization to another. For Female contributions are highest in pharmaceutical study participants using surveys (conducted either tributing university TTOs to WIC/MSC committee
example, several companies were shown to have 20% and basic chemicals, with the lowest contributions via email or telephone). Study participants included members who had a prior relationship with at least
to 30% of their patents naming at least one female in engineering. U.S. TTOs and TTO software application vendors. one person at the target TTO, and then non-respond-
inventor, while some companies have less than 5% While all of these studies and prior work analyzed ing TTOs were divided up randomly. Follow-up calls
of their patents naming a woman inventor. This sug- barriers to female patenting and entrepreneurship Survey on Gender Tracking to non-responders were made between November
gests that individual organizational environments do rates, many have also indicated a need for additional An independent survey (WIC/MSC survey) was 2015 and March 2016.
matter and can influence women’s patenting patterns tools and resources to better understand and mea- deployed to determine both baseline data regarding The WIC/MSC committee member making the
(20). sure female participation in the innovation economy. gender tracking in TTOs and to gain insight about follow-up call was instructed to engage in two tasks
There is a strong gender gap in STEM entre- Recommendations from prior work for increasing potential barriers keeping TTOs from tracking gen- with these universities. The first task was to ask the
preneurship and patenting; across all STEM fields, women’s patenting activities include developing sys- der in commercialization-related areas. The initial original survey questions and enter the results into
women with doctorate degrees have lower rates of tems and data tools to better track gender (8). Our WIC/MSC survey consisted of five questions: an Excel template. The second task had WIC/MSC
patenting and entrepreneurship than do men, with study is an initial analysis on such systems and tools. committee members share several talking points to
women STEM doctorates engaging in both activ- 1. On behalf of which university or organization advocate and prompt additional discussions around
ities at lower rates (5.4% versus 7%, respectively) METHODOLOGY are you responding? implementing gender tracking at the target school.
(21). Influencing all of this is the ongoing issue The following sections outline the specific aspects 2. Does your university technology transfer office These advocacy talking points included:
with women entering and staying in STEM fields. of the research methodology, including research currently track gender for inventors? 1. How to start tracking gender if interested in
Illustrating this point, “[i]n 2010, only 19.1% of questions, research design, sampling strategy, and 3. If your university technology transfer office starting to do so and sharing resources devel-
engineering degrees, 20.9% of computer science, data collection process as well as the data analysis does not currently track gender, why not? oped by WIC/MSC
and 38.7% of degrees in the physical sciences were strategy and validity and implications techniques 4. If your university is not currently tracking 2. Informing the TTO that gender-related ques-
awarded to women, whereas 58.3% of degrees in that were undertaken. gender for inventors, would you be willing to tions will be included on the upcoming AUTM
the biological sciences were held by women” (8). speak with someone from our committee about 2016 survey in order to encourage the TTO to
Women in STEM are concentrated in the life sci- Purpose of the Study implementing this? begin tracking and possibly back entering data
ences, which do not produce as many patentable The purpose of this study was three-fold: to 5. If you answered yes to question #4 and would for the past year or two
inventions as do fields such as engineering and com- uncover how TTOs are incorporating gender con- like us to contact you or someone in your 3. Emphasize that tracking gender should not
puter science. Hunt et al. (18) estimate that gender siderations into their reporting activities, to increase department, please include contact information place additional burden on a department once
segregation across STEM fields accounts for 31% of awareness about the importance of gender tracking Questions were designed to understand the cur- implemented
the commercial patenting gap and that gender seg- for those who have not considered gender impact, rent practices of university TTOs regarding gender 4. Include any relevant anecdotal data for refer-
regation in specific job tasks explains at least 13% of and finally to increase the number of university TTOs tracking as well as obtain the referent information ence regarding barriers to implementing
the commercialized patenting gap. This gender gap tracking gender. This investigative study was guided (university name and optional contact informa- tracking
becomes more pronounced in positions where a great by the following questions: tion for follow-up call). The survey also offered 5. Ask which software the TTO office was using
amount of experience is required (6). Women are an opportunity for the respondents to have a fol-
also less likely than men to work in patent-intensive 1. What is the availability of data on participa- low-up conversation to learn more about gender Separate follow-up calls were also made to uni-
jobs, including research, development, and design. tion rates at academic institution TTOs regarding monitoring and tracking in TTOs. The survey was versities that responded to the initial survey and had