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STRATEGIES TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP 703

face. After giving a seminar as a man, he overheard selves reflected in the entrepreneurial archetypes of
the following comment: “Ben Barres gave a great popular culture. Although start-ups are not the main
seminar today, but his work is much better than his avenue for technology commercialization, they are an
sister’s work” (7). The comment was made by an indi- important component of the innovation pipeline and
vidual who failed to realize that there was only one provide obvious support for the regional economic
Professor Barres and had attributed more value to development efforts of universities. Women are defi-
the research of male Professor Barres than to that of nitely under-represented among entrepreneurs, being
female Professor Barres. only half as likely as men to start a business according
to the Kauffman Foundation (12).
A Problem of Perception
Another manifestation of gender bias that might An Issue of Motivation
be relevant for IP generation is the tendency to attri- At NC State, only eight of the 34 start-up compa-
bute the accomplishments of female team members nies launched in the last three years had a woman as
to male colleagues. Margaret Rossiter’s article on the founder or co-founder. However, the fact that women
“Matilda effect” in science and the recent editorial may not visualize themselves as the “entrepreneur
by Christy Haynes resonated with the authors of this in the hoodie” may not be the major reason. Given
article (8,9). Dr. Ligler had just presented the work that female faculty already face an uphill challenge
of the team she led at a national meeting when a when working to achieve success within the academic
well-known senior scientist approached her and her environment, they may be understandably reluctant
(male) technician and complimented him on Dr. to devote the additional time and effort required to
Ligler’s presentation of his project—much to her male launch a new start-up company. This reluctance could
colleague’s mortification! For many women, the issue potentially be mitigated by a better understanding
of whether or not to insist on being recognized for of options such as licensing or by learning from a
their contributions versus the potential ramifications mentor who has started a company while maintaining
of alienating supervisors or colleagues results in an a work-life balance.
inculcated willingness to work behind the scenes. The Another common misconception is that the only
corollary to this approach is not stepping forward to reason for technology commercialization is to make
take credit as a co-inventor. money. While creating value and rewarding stock-
In addition to a reluctance to take credit for indi- holders who support commercialization are essential
vidual contributions that would inherently constitute accomplishments required for a company to survive,
inventorship, female faculty may also be less secure there are successful companies founded because of
about their leadership capabilities in their current or the motivation to help other people. Teaching faculty
potential professional organizations. Sheryl Sandberg that the process of IP generation and commercial-
makes a convincing case in Lean In that women often
undervalue their contributions to organizations as ization is a vehicle for impacting the lives of others
compared to their male peers. There is a growing in a positive way can be a very powerful motivator.
body of evidence to support the concept that women
disproportionately lack the confidence to pursue POTENTIAL APPROACHES TO CLOSE THE
opportunities for which they are qualified as com- GENDER GAP
pared to their male counterparts (10,11). This lack While we contend that female faculty absolutely
of confidence may impact the willingness of female have creative capabilities equivalent to their male
faculty to engage in the technology commercializa- colleagues, addressing the role of gender bias in the
tion process, especially as entrepreneurs. distribution of research funds to support technol-
Entrepreneurs are frequently portrayed by the ogy-based innovation is beyond the scope of this
media as twenty-something Caucasian males wear- publication. Thus, we will focus on the capacity of
ing hoodies. While the reality of entrepreneurship university TTOs to develop proactive outreach and
is vastly different, this perception may discourage faculty education programs to foster an understanding
individuals from participating who do not see them- of the fiscal and social values of IP and the variety of