Researchers estimate that millions of potential inventors from underrepresented groups are not inventing and patenting due to a lack of early exposure. Imagine what we’re missing!
Women inventors are overwhelmingly underrepresented worldwide, with only 13% of listed inventors in the world being a woman.
Only about 2% of all venture capital funding goes to women.
70
YEARS
At the current rate of progress, women won't reach parity in patenting until 2092.
From 1999 to 2020, 23% of patients included at least one woman inventor, and only 4% of patents filed were exclusively women.
Black, Hispanic, Multiracial, and American Indian and Alaska Native inventors make up less than 8% of U.S. inventors.
Children in the top 1% of family income are 10 times more likely to patent in their lifetimes than children in the entire bottom half of family income.
Increasing participation in inventing and patenting by underrepresented groups would quadruple the number of American inventors. Think of how much faster we could solve problems with 4 times the brainpower!
Research shows that including more women and Black Americans in the early stages of innovation would boost the U.S. economy by up to $1 trillion every year.
Increasing the number of women, people of color, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and veterans who invent would help close wage and wealth gaps in the workforce.
It’s simple: more inventors mean more inventions—and every invention can spark countless other big ideas! And since most inventors solve problems that matter to them, a greater diversity in thinkers will lead to more diverse ideas and solutions.
We’ve put together a whole library of research on diversity and inclusion in the innovation economy. And you have access to all of it.
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