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September 13, 2007

women inventors make it patentable

I really hate to admit where I found this information... I would love to be able to say while reading Forbes, but it was a bit less highbrow than that. No matter the source, the subject matter is truly fascinating: synergy occurs when inventive teams include women.

"If you want to create a really useful invention, make sure you have both women and men on your development team," states writer Claire Cain Miller for Forbes. According to a survey by the National Center for Women and Information Technology, mixed-gender teams' technology patents received up to 42% more citations that their single-gender counterparts.

"Our data show that diversity of thought matters to innovation," says NCWIT Chief Executive Lucinda Sanders, who holds six telecom software patents. "We can say involving women is important because women are half the population and have good ideas, but our study shows the impact for companies."

As pointed out by Jezebel, American women have been registering inventions for centuries: The first to receive a patent was Mary Dixon Kies, for a straw-weaving technique. In 1942, Hedy Lamarr (U.S. Pat No. 2,292,387) patented a "secret communications system."

Today, women hold more patents in computer software than in any other category, but, unfortunately, fewer women are getting computer science degrees (a pattern that starts in elementary school, according to an NCWIT researcher).

I am extremely impressed with the information and resources over at the NCWIT website -- well worth a look by anyone interested in getting more women interested in careers in information technology.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 06:56 PM.
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