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GENDER DATA GAP 681

dramatic increase in the academic technology trans- replicable programs that encourage more women
fer profession; the number of TTOs in the U.S grew faculty, postdocs, and graduate students to submit
from about 25 in 1980 to 200 in 1999 (23). It may be new discoveries to their respective TTOs. It can also
that systems are still being implemented, and this aid in 1) the development of greater awareness among
study highlights a need for re-evaluation in this area. TTO staff about inherent biases that may exist when
This would appear to be the case for offices that do they are working with women inventors; 2) the iden-
not have a high volume of commercialization activ- tification of and collaboration with organizations
ity. Several respondents reported that their offices that promote women entrepreneurs to encourage
were so small that they considered official track- more women-led start-ups; 3) the collaboration with
ing unnecessary, as the TTO representatives knew organizations that have synergistic missions; and,
their inventor population and would be able to eas- 4) within AUTM’s core competencies, the addition
ily report metrics if asked. of value to what they are already doing (24).
One concern over tracking did arise however. The results of this study should serve as a call to
Although only voiced by one respondent in the initial action for the development of higher education, gov-
survey, concern was raised via the comment section ernment, and industry policy in relation to both the
that tracking gender metrics for innovators could tracking and encouragement of women’s participa-
reflect negatively on the university TTO if significant tion in the patenting and commercialization process.
disparity was found. While this concern is under- These policies must take into account the variety of
stood from a public relations perspective, it is the social, cultural, economic, and political contexts in
contention of the authors that universities should which students learn and in which work is performed.
actively encourage their TTOs to track gender met- TTO leadership and commitment to commercial-
rics so that assessments can be made and programs ization is a significant influence on research and
and strategies implemented as appropriate. innovation, and, as such, they may expect to take
At the time of the survey, only two of the four a leadership role in implementing tracking of and
leading software companies utilized by TTOs had developing metrics to analyze gender participation
the capability to track gender embedded within their as well as encouraging the disclosure of new tech-
systems. This finding was significant because it high- nologies by women inventors.
lights the lack of attention for a gender variable within
TTOs. This finding aligns with the majority of tech- Future Research
nology transfer professionals’ lack of awareness about There are a number of future research opportuni-
the importance of this variable. It should be noted ties stemming from the results of this study. Several
that Inteum and WellSpring did upgrade their systems of these opportunities can be separated into three
to include a gender field after the survey was com- categories: analysis of the circumstances leading to
pleted. It can be hypothesized that additional effort the development of gender tracking; findings of gen-
on the data entry side may result in lower tracking der participation by those institutions that have been
compliance for this metric. Furthermore, it should be tracking participation based on gender; and pro-
noted that anecdotal feedback from university TTO grams that might encourage increased participation
personnel indicate that, as a result of the WIC/MSC by women in the innovation process.
survey, they were contacting WellSpring and Inteum
to address the issue. This client advocacy likely had Analysis of Gender Tracking Implementation
an impact on the companies’ decisions to upgrade A better understanding of those institutions that
their systems. are already tracking gender participation may provide
insight into the types of environments that support
Implications and Recommendations gender tracking and help encourage other institutions
Metrics are important. The data obtained by the to include gender as a part of their data collection.
AUTM Women Inventor’s Committee can assist in Areas for further research include:
developing and determining the effectiveness of a. For institutions that are collecting data, how