The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) shared a new article published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. The article, titled "Discovering value: Women’s participation in university and commercial artificial intelligence (AI) invention," uses the AI Patent Dataset and information on inventors’ genders available via PatentsView to study women’s participation in the AI innovation ecosystem.
The article shows that women’s participation in patenting—both in AI and other technologies—is growing and associated with more diverse teams and patents with higher economic value.
“The findings in this article are essential in guiding our work to strengthen and broaden the innovation ecosystem,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Kathi Vidal. “Women are severely underrepresented in STEM fields, and the emerging field of biotechnology AI is no exception. Fortunately, studies like these bring awareness to the issue and help facilitate important conversations and action.”
Given the incredible reach of AI across technologies and organizations, diversifying the AI innovation ecosystem could produce substantial economic gains. The article also shows that more can be done to diversify the AI innovation ecosystem, especially in the university sector and within the emerging field of biotechnology AI, an area where women’s participation is associated with substantial value. Read the full article on the journal articles and conference proceedings webpage.