OSU REACH Improves Patenting Opportunities for Women

OSU REACH Improves Patenting Opportunities for Women

At current course and speed, it could take until 2092 for women to achieve parity in patent disclosures.

That estimate from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) in a recently published report, Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting, Innovation, and Commercialization: Programs Promoting Equity and Inclusion is not good news for advanced technology startups.

Entrepreneurs both depend on scientists and inventors to create and patent the disruptive and seek greater inclusion and diversity as a strategy to achieve better financial results.

What is good news is that in the report, IWPR identifies and discusses in detail seven initiatives for increasing the inclusion of women in the innovation economy. One of the seven is the REACH for Commercialization™ program at The Ohio State University.

REACH works with female faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students at The Ohio State University. The program runs a series of four workshops that discuss different aspects of the patenting and commercialization process in an academic setting. REACH also hosts networking events that help connect their participants with investors, entrepreneurs, and peers.

According to McKinsey & Company, for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on a senior executive team in the U.S., earnings before interest and taxes rise 0.8 percent.

About the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and experiences. The Institute’s research strives to give voice to the needs of women from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds across the income spectrum and to ensure that their perspectives enter the public debate on ending discrimination and inequality, improving opportunity, and increasing economic security for women and families. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groups to design, execute, and disseminate research and to build a diverse network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research. IWPR’s work is supported by foundation grants, government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics at American University.