Closing the career opportunity gap in IP

Today, innovation is key to driving business growth and competitive advantage, with intellectual property or IP sitting at the very heart of this strategy. In recent years we’ve witnessed some remarkable strides across the globe in bridging the gender gap in the IP sector. Yet, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, only 16 percent of international patent applications are filed by women inventors. At this rate, the WIPO doesn’t expect to achieve gender parity before 2064. That’s almost 40 years into the future. So, while progress is being made, clearly much more must be done to quickly close this gap as well as a similar gap in career opportunities for minorities.

Tarianna Stewart – our featured guest in the latest episode of the Ideas to Innovation Season 2 podcast from Clarivate – ventured into her IP career by accident. “I happened to learn about IP during my Ph.D. program and thought, ‘this seems interesting… maybe a little bit better than working in the lab.’” Now an experienced biomedical scientist and accomplished IP professional at the technology unit of New York University in New York City, Tarianna has smart advice for women and people of color who seek to follow in her footsteps and pursue careers in IP and innovation. In our podcast discussion, she recalls how she “fell in love with the tech transfer space,” and offers a ‘been-there-done-that’ perspective on what she believes it will take to foster a more inclusive IP and innovation landscape for the benefit of all involved.