WIPO and Mexico launch digital community to promote women inventors

By Dumont

The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched a digital community that looks to support the innovative potential of women in Mexico and overcome cultural, educational and social obstacles.

The Network of Innovative Women and Industrial Property will gather public institutions, chambers, associations and universities to materialize public policies, information and mentoring aimed at strengthening the participation of women in economic activities, specially young girls, and making visible the work of Mexican women in entrepreneurship and research.

According to the WIPO, in 2020, women inventors filed international patent applications more frequently in Latin America and the Caribbean (19.2% of applicants) than any other region. Asia and North America registered the second and third highest shares (17.4% and 16.5% respectively). 

Consistent with trends over the past decade, women inventors continue to be more prevalent within academia (23.2 percent in 2020) than in the private sector (15.7 percent). However, in 2020, international patent applications coming from academia represented only 5.8 percent of total applications.

Women inventors tend to be concentrated in specific disciplines, with biotechnology, food chemistry and pharmaceuticals being the top three fields for women in 2020, in line with the trend of previous years.

On the other hand, transport; engines, pumps and turbines; and mechanical elements are the fields in which women filed the least patent applications in 2020.