Page 37 - T-I JOURNAL19 4

Technology and Innovation, Vol. 19, pp. 685-699, 2018 ISSN 1949-8241 • E-ISSN 1949-825X
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.21300/19.4.2018.685
Copyright © 2018 National Academy of Inventors. www.technologyandinnovation.org

ENGAGING WOMEN INNOVATORS: ANALYTICAL SUPPORT

FOR WOMEN INNOVATOR PROGRAMMING
IN UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Nichole R. Mercier , Varsha Ranjit , and Robert J. Reardon 1
2
1
1 Office of Technology Management, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
2 The George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

There is a gender disparity in the field of academic technology transfer and commercialization.
More males than females are disclosing and patenting their ideas and research despite the
increase in female faculty members at universities over recent years. The Office of Technology
Management (OTM) at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) initiated the Women
in Innovation and Technology (WIT) program in 2014 in an effort to increase participation
of women in technology transfer activities, including disclosure and patenting of inventions.
The OTM hypothesized that low female involvement in commercialization may be positively
impacted if constructive support for female innovators was made available and structural
changes to engaging women in technology transfer were enacted. This article summarizes the
results of technology transfer activities by women innovators both prior to and three years into
WIT programming. Internal data collected by the WUSTL OTM with respect to invention
disclosures, patent applications, and individual participants were evaluated to determine if
WIT programming improved participation of women in technology transfer activities. The
data indicated that there was indeed an increase, specifically one within the female faculty
population. The number of disclosures submitted to the OTM by female creators and the pat-
ent applications filed by the OTM on behalf of women inventors were both increased. These
findings show persuasive evidence that programming aimed at women innovators can enhance
the engagement of female creators, such as female faculty members, students, postdoctoral
fellows, and staff, in technology transfer activities.
Key words: Commercialization; Patents; Inventions; Gender; Technology transfer; Women

INTRODUCTION their technology transfer offices (TTO) is fairly stan-
In the academy, the field of technology trans- dardized, beginning with the submission of their
fer has enabled researchers, primarily in science, novel findings through an invention disclosure to the
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) TTO, followed by intellectual property protection, as
areas, to take nascent findings from scientific lab- usually determined by the TTO, and the search for
oratories and partner with a corporate company a commercial partner. Therefore, the relatively sim-
that can develop these innovations into products or ple event of submitting an invention disclosure can
services. The engagement of faculty inventors with initiate a technology transfer cascade (e.g., the filing

_____________________
Accepted: March 1, 2018.
Address correspondence to Nichole R. Mercier, Ph.D., 660 S. Euclid Ave, Box 8013, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Tel: +1 (314) 747-1903;
Fax: +1 (314) 362-5872. E-mail: nmercier@wustl.edu

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