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Following, we have three papers that highlight that may be critical for designing effective program-
issues surrounding women innovators and technol- ming to promote women inventorship. Yolanda L.
ogy transfer at academic institutions. First, Kathleen Comedy and Elizabeth L. Dougherty highlight the
Sohar et al. offer a broad overview of women’s engage- importance of role models to encourage the next
ment in the technology transfer process at universities. generation of women inventors. Specifically, they
Specifically, they note the necessity for establishing a discuss women who have broken through the many
baseline of data for tracking gender in the invention barriers to become major inventors and now share
process and for raising awareness of these disparities their stories as educational inspiration through the
as a first step towards addressing inequalities. Next, AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassadors program.
Nichole R. Mercier et al. of Washington University in Rounding out the special topic section, two of
St. Louis discuss the successful efforts of their institu- T&I’s regular features are dedicated to the gender gap
tion to increase women inventorship through targeted as well. In the USPTO’s commentary, Linda Hosler
programming. Their results included growth in the draws attention to the agency’s efforts to narrow the
number of disclosures submitted to their technology gender gap in patenting and invention by fostering a
transfer office and the number of patent applications flexible and fair workplace and supporting program-
filed. Finally, Kelly B. Sexton and Frances S. Ligler ming that honors and encourages women inventors.
discuss the necessity of a university invention cul- The NAI Fellow Profile focuses on Dr. Michelle Khine,
ture that promotes the engagement of its full talent who discusses her new work on wearable health mon-
pool. Based on their experiences at North Carolina itors and point of care technologies, the importance
State University, they suggest some practical steps to of supporting junior faculty and graduate students
accomplish this, including reaching out to women in the early stages of their careers, and how we might
inventors and demystifying the patenting and com- go about addressing the gender gap in invention.
mercialization process. In the general section, the issue also includes two
The next two papers in this special issue offer a articles as well as T&I’s NAI Chapter Spotlight and
broader view of the patenting and commercialization Innovation in Action features. Chononye C. Nnakwe
landscape in the U.S. First, Berna Demiralp et al. focus et al. review the history of the NSF I-Corps® program,
on women’s participation in STEM fields, as these are discuss the critical difference it has made in research
the fields that are most closely tied to the current funding, and look to the future of the program and
innovation economy. In addition to highlighting the additional research funding efforts. Neil G. Siegel
current gaps, they also take stock of our prospects for and Marek A. Suchenek dig into the complex topic
change and opportunities for policy improvements. of software patenting, offering a brief history of the
Next, Holly Fechner and Matthew S. Shapanka review legal foundations of software patenting and arguing
disparities in patenting and commercialization that for the net positive effects of the practice despite its
show the disadvantages that women, people of color, problems. In regular T&I features, the NAI Chapter
and lower-income individuals face in obtaining pat- Spotlight focuses on the innovation and invention
ents. Despite the often-grim statistics, Fechner and community at the University of Southern California,
Shapanka are clear on the imperative for including while the Innovation in Action feature highlights
all people in the promotion of innovation, and they innovation at Arizona State University in cancer
offer a variety of recommendations for beginning to therapeutics and carbon recycling.
close the gap. Coming back to our focus in this issue on the
Subsequently, Stephanie Couch et al. and Yolanda gender gap, the series of articles included in the
L. Comedy and Elizabeth L. Dougherty discuss the special topic section documents the changes that
importance of the educational component in equal- have occurred in social awareness, philosophical
izing inventorship. Couch et al. analyzed results underpinnings, and processes for academic patenting.
from the InvenTeams initiative for high school Engineering fields were familiar with the patenting
students, revealing the factors that supported and expectations of their colleagues and their universities;
constrained young women inventors—information what was new was the general push to patent with the