Only 9% of UK patents are filed by women

Only 9% of patents filed in the UK are by women, research from WISE has revealed.

This is compared to a global average of 30%. Encouragingly though, the research also found a 9% increase in the number of patents filed by women by publicly listed companies. This was 30% in 2016 and 21% in 2012. This figure has increased 500% since 1975.

Helen Wollaston, WISE Chief Executive Officer, said: “The figures for female patents in the UK is shockingly low. As it stands, it doesn’t bode very well for the Government’s ambition to make the UK the most innovative economy in the world that we are so far behind other countries.”

“This growth is a glimmer of light. We need more companies to adopt best practice to create a truly gender balanced innovative landscape for the UK. There are many aspects to this from ensuring we have role models for girls to see women inventing things to changing the language used in recruitment.”

WISE has suggested ten steps to ensure companies are doing more to inspire girls into science, technology, engineering and maths careers.

Wollaston added: “In a survey last year, the only woman inventor people could name was Marie Curie, who discovered radium and polonium over 100 years ago. Where are today’s Marie Curies? We need to change this and so we are asking female entrepreneurs to step forward and volunteer to act as a role model with our People Like Me initiative.”

WISE is also encouraging companies to review their recruitment strategies, including the language used in job adverts and descriptions.