Women in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The project "Increasing the Role of Women in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Encouraging Women in Developing Countries to Use the Intellectual Property System" focused on advancing the participation of women inventors and innovators in the national innovation system by supporting their use of the intellectual property system.
By providing better support programs, access to mentorships, and networking opportunities, the project assisted and supported women to gain more awareness, knowledge, and experience of the IP system.
Project background
In May 2018, the United States, Canada, and Mexico proposed the project Increasing the Role of Women in Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Encouraging Women to Use Intellectual Property System to the WIPO Development and Intellectual Property Committee (CDIP).
In January 2019, the project was launched as a pilot program that will, hopefully, scale up and become a regular program at WIPO. This is with the aim of supporting women inventors and innovators to make better use of the IP system, in order to increase their participation in national innovation systems. The project ended in December 2022.
For more information, visit the project reports and outputs section.
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Not a woman's job?
When it comes to career prospects in innovation and entrepreneurship, gender-based stereotypes are particularly prevalent.
In what ways can the IP System help women? According to research, women hardly participate in the IP system at the same rate as men or receive the same benefits, even though these differences exist across all forms of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Individual women, businesses, and societies alike would benefit greatly from solving this problem.
What are the challenges contributing to the gender gap in IP?
- More data is needed to determine the scope and nature of the gender gap.
- Women are less likely to be trained and encouraged to enter STEM fields, as well as to receive the resources they need to succeed in business.
- Women are less likely to pursue careers in IP law and administration.
- A lack of understanding of the importance of IP rights and how the IP system works.
- Women are less likely to receive mentoring and advancement opportunities in IP-sensitive fields.
What can we do?
- Knowing what data is being collected and how difficult it may be to collect it
- Promoting applications for IP grants, scholarships, and internships for girls, adult women and educators, academic research funding, investments in female entrepreneurs, and building fundamental capacities for women.
- Through increasing the number of female STEM professionals and implementing targeted training programs for women interested in IP law and administration careers it is possible to increase the number of female IP law and administration professionals indirectly.
- Promoting awareness-raising and targeted capacity-building initiatives.
- Assisting women to succeed and stay in IP-intensive careers, as well as encouraging them to commercialize their inventions through networking and mentoring.
WIPO IP Mentorship Program for Women Inventors
One of the objectives of the project was to provide access to mentors and each pilot country identified potential mentors who could support their women inventors. In addition, the project implemented a pilot program of international mentorship for the benefit of inventors in the pilot countries.
By consulting directly with expert IP mentors, the program aimed to help a group of over 25 female inventors from the pilot countries; Pakistan, Mexico, Oman, and Uganda gain a better understanding of how different IP management strategies may enhance their ability to bring their inventions to market.
Each mentee was paired with one of the volunteer international mentors, an experienced IP expert, and they would engage in four one on one meetings according to a given structure to explore how the inventors could use the IP system to support their efforts to bring their inventions to market.
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Meet our program mentors
Saima Kanwal
Assistant Controller of Patent Patent Office, Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan
Ms. Kanwal earned valuable experience through her work as a patent examiner since 2006, especially in the biotechnology field. In particular, she has expert level knowledge in patent drafting, and patent search database.
Fatima Tafseer
Assistant Controller, Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan
Ms. Tafseer has vast experience of examination of Patent applications particularly related to pharmaceuticals since 2006. She has expert level knowledge in evaluating the patentability of inventions, searching in patent databases, patent drafting, and making legal and technical arguments with IP attorneys/inventors. She is specialized in conducting training programs in IP and providing technical support and guidance to researchers and innovators.
Corey Salsberh
Vice President and Global Head IP Affairs Novartis, United States of America, Washington DC
Mr. Salsberg is an experienced attorney and strategist in the field of IP and innovation law and policy. A recognized thought leader in the field, he speaks around the world, and sits on the Steering Committee of the WEF-WIPO IAP pro bono program, as well as on several IP-related not-for-profit Boards.
James Collison
Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd, Singapore
Mr. Collison has extensive experience advising on a wide range of IP matters, including joint development research activities, technology-focused transactions, and trade secret protection programs.
Marco Vatta
Senior Associate Patent Attorney Spoor & Fisher, Patent Agency Department, South Africa
Mr. Vatta is a qualified South African patent attorney and is well experienced in IP management, particularly for patents and designs, client liaison and attorney’s practice. Mr. Vatta has a keen interest in IP education and as such is also a course convenor and examiner for the Patent Examination Board.
Sandra Clelland
Partner, Von Seidels, South Africa
Ms. Clelland is a patent attorney with more than 20 years of experience. She specializes in patents related to inventions in the life sciences, chemical, pharmaceutical and agricultural fields.
Chyreene Truluck
Partner, Spoor & Fisher, Patent Agency Department, South Africa
Ms. Truluck is a patent attorney specializing in patents in the biotechnology and life sciences sector. She holds an MSc degree in genetics and worked in the field of intellectual property management for over 13 years.
Jennifer O’Farrell
Partner, Patent Attorney, D Young & Co, United Kingdom
Ms. O’Farrell, has been a patent attorney for more than 15 years, managing IP portfolios for a variety of clients (Universities, startups, multinational corporations…). Her expertise involves patent drafting, prosecution of patent application, oppositions and appeals before the EPO, and devising IP strategies
Joanne van Harmelen
Patent Attorney, Biotechnology | Lead, IP Life Sciences Cluster, ENSafrica
Dr. van Harmelen, is a qualified patent attorney with extensive experience in the field of biotechnology and life sciences having prepared and filed patent applications locally and in foreign jurisdictions in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals fields.
Tamara Milton
Partner Patent Attorney D Young & Co LLP, UK
Dr. Milton has experience of all stages of the patenting process, from invention analysis and drafting applications to prosecution and grant of the applications. She is also very experienced at opposing and defending patents before the European Patent Office.
Abigail Tan
Commercial Counsel Elastic NV, Singapore
Ms. Tan is an experienced technology lawyer with extensive IP knowledge. Throughout her career, she dealt with regional IP Strategy management, commercialization and patent registrations.
Sarah Barrès
Principal Patent Attorney, EPA, Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark
European Patent Attorney with 15 years of international experience both in private practice and in global pharmaceutical industry, including in leadership role. Ms. Barrès, has substantial experience in patent strategy, worldwide patent prosecution, European patent opposition, pre-litigation.
Catherine Keetch
Partner, Patent Attorney, United Kingdom
With over 15 years’ experience in private practice, Ms. Keetch focus on chemical and biochemical subject matter, and gets great satisfaction from helping her clients protect and launch exciting new products.
Natalie Cozier, MRSC
Industry Director iCAST (Innovation Centre for Applied Sustainable Technologies), Swindon UK; Co-Founder and Advisor, Global Equality Diversity and Inclusion in Technology Transfer (GEDITT)
Dr. Cozier MRSC is Industry Director of iCAST with a background in green chemistry, commercialisation and innovation. She has a demonstrated history and hands-on experience in overseeing small to large-scale scientific and economic operations in the public, private and commercial sectors.
Sheikha Al-Akhzami
CEO, W&A Consultancy and Integrated Services
Ms. Al-Akhzami established the first TTO in Oman the founder of the science incubation program to assists students and researchers in connecting with industrial partners, patenting and commercializing their inventions. She is an active member on a national level and played a key role in establishing the WIPO-OM Summer School on IP. She is also an expert for the Omani court occasionally and for other institutions when it comes to the legal IP aspects in research contract, and technology licensing.
Narjes Achach, PharmD, LLM
Intellectual Property Analyst, IRICOR- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, University of Montreal, Canada
Ms. Achach, is specialized in IP management, in the health sector. Her previous work involved the promotion of research projects and the negotiation of partnership agreements between academia and industry. She also is an advocate for enabling technologies transfer and innovation services in developing countries.
Eng. Dr. Dorothy Okello
Dean, School of Engineering, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) Makerere University, Uganda
With over 20 years of diverse working experience in teaching, researching, conducting projects and contributing to policies, Dr. Okello earned extensive knowledge in terms of innovation management. She has supported many teams from their initial ideas to piloting and commercialization stages.
Joseph Mbihayeimaana
Senior Intellectual Property Officer, National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Uganda
With more than six years working as a senior IP officer, and head of IP management, Mr. Mbihayeimaana, has deep understanding of IP management, patent drafting and involvement in policy development in IP and innovations including at the national, sectoral and institutional levels.
Chetan Uttarwar
Manager Innovation Partnerships, Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), India
Mr. Uttarwar shows a long and diverse experience in the intellectual property field, from research management to technology and business research with special focus on technology analysis, due diligence, scouting, licensing, competitive intelligence, transfer and monetization.
IP resources for women innovators and entrepreneurs
To many, intellectual property (IP) is a rather obscure legal concept that can only be properly understood and applied by those who are specially trained. Our series of guides are designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) especially to understand why it is important to pay attention to IP, and what benefits can be drawn from its use.
In particular, under the CDIP project, WIPO launched in 2021 “Enterprising Ideas: A Guide to Intellectual Property for Startups”. This guide has been developed with the aim to introduce startups to the world of IP and equip them with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate this complex landscape.
We have also designed a collection of training material made available below.
Download all presentations [ZIP]
- Using the Intellectual Property System for Business Competitiveness
- What is Intellectual Property? [PPT]
- The Importance of Using IP in Business Strategy: Intellectual Property for Startups [PPT]
- Are you involved in an IP or technology dispute? Have you considered WIPO’s alternative dispute resolution services? [PDF]
- How SMEs can use WIPO Mediation and Arbitration to resolve IP and innovation disputes efficiently [PDF]
- How to draft efficient mediation and arbitration clauses for your IP and commercial contracts [PDF]
- Fundamentals of using patent databases [PDF]
- Identifying Inventions in the Public Domain: A Guide for Inventors and Entrepreneurs [PDF]
- Using Inventions in the Public Domain: A Guide for Inventors and Entrepreneurs [PDF]
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Guides: Intellectual Property for Business
To many, intellectual property (IP) is a rather obscure legal concept that can only be properly understood and applied by those who are specially trained. These guides are designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) especially to understand why it is important to pay attention to IP, and what benefits can be drawn from its use.