Mapping the Inventor Gender Gap: Analyzing Regional & Organization Variation in the Inclusivity of the Innovation Economy

该项目通过绘制不同地区（城市、经济区、州）、部门和组织类型的女性与男性发明人（FI vs MI）的专利活动图，研究美国发明人之间的性别差距。理解这些模式对于解释女性发明者在当今创新经济中的比例非常低至关重要。这一问题对各经济体的包容性增长具有重大影响。为了更好地理解这一差距，本项目考察了男女发明者在区域背景下的差异。虽然先前的工作探讨了地点（如公司聚集）对创新的作用，但对地点对基于性别的发明者活动的作用知之甚少。该项目的目标是通过研究以下关键问题来填补这一空白：女性发明家在哪里？哪些位置和字段具有较高的FI相对存在（即，更高的包容性）？在特定区域内，哪些类型的组织更具包容性？区域产业集群是否支持较高的金融机构比率？女性发明家与男性发明家如何在其组织内部和外部环境中获取知识？为了回答这些问题，该研究开发了按性别分列的发明人及其专利地理分布的新指标。发明人分布图已扩展到欧盟国家，以帮助各国金融机构包容性的可比性，并为促进性别平等的政策提供信息。该项目还开发了一个发明人绘图工具，提供交互式地图和可视化，帮助政策制定者、公司和研究人员了解各地区按性别分列的发明人参与和业绩的差异。通过这种方式，该项目可以为政策举措的设计提供信息（例如，动员发明者的计划）来影响地点属性和公司实践，从而减少发明者性别差距，并最终减少科技技能与创新之间匹配的低效率。为了解决我们关于性别差距的核心问题，该项目开发了关于女性发明者包容性的新统计数据（例如，自2000年以来，在组织、领域（产业集群和技术类别）和区域各级，妇女发明者的百分比和妇女拥有的专利的百分比。这些包容性指标，加上关于STEM教育和职业的数据，将确定与女性参与相关的地点和组织属性。除了详细的描述性分析和可视化，新数据还用于评估专利申请中性别差距的各种解释。首先，女性没有选择与参与专利申请相容的基于STEM的技能。第二，STEM领域的女性在专利密集型领域和组织中的代表性不足。第三，女性在地理上比男性受到更多的限制（例如，由于收入或家庭负担较低），因此，他们可以特别受益于更容易获得知识和与附近发明者合作的地点和组织。总的来说，这项工作为提高创新经济的包容性和绩效提供了重要的政策和管理建议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines the gender gap among US inventors by mapping the patenting activity of female versus male inventors (FIs vs MIs) across regions (cities, economic areas, states), sectors, and types of organizations. It is critical to understand these patterns to explain the very low presence of female inventors in today's innovation economy. This problem holds significant implications for the inclusive growth of economies. To better understand the gap, this project examines the differences in the regional context where female and male inventors operate. While prior work has explored the role of location (e.g. agglomerations of firms) on innovation, little is known about the role of location on gender-based inventor activity. The goal of this project is to fill this hole by examining key questions such as: Where are female inventors located? What locations and fields have a higher relative presence of FIs (i.e., higher inclusivity)? Within given regions what types of organizations are more inclusive? Do regional industry clusters support higher rates of FIs? How do female versus male inventors source knowledge inside their organizations and in the external environment? To answer these questions, the research develops new indicators on the geography of inventors and their patents by gender. The mapping of inventors is extended to European Union countries to aid comparability in FI inclusivity across countries, and inform policies to promote gender equality. The project also develops an inventor mapping tool that provides interactive maps and visualizations that help policy makers, firms, and researchers to understand variation across regions in the participation and performance of inventors by gender. In this way, this project can inform the design of policy initiatives (e.g., programs to mobilize inventors) to influence locational attributes and firm practices that could reduce the inventor gender gap and, ultimately, reduce the inefficiencies in the match between science and technology skills and innovation.To address our core questions regarding the gender gap, this project develops new statistics on female inventor inclusivity (e.g., percent of inventors that are women and the percent of patents attributed to women) at the organization, field (industry cluster and technology class), and regional levels since 2000 onwards. These inclusivity indicators, together with data on STEM education and occupations, will identify what locational and organizational attributes are associated with female participation. Beyond detailed descriptive analysis and visualizations, the new data is used to assess a variety of explanations for the gender gap in patenting. First, women are not selecting STEM-based skills that are compatible with participation in patenting. Two, women in STEM are under-represented in patent-intensive fields and organizations. Third, women are more geographically constrained than men (e.g., due to lower income or family obligations), and so, they could benefit specially from being in locations and organizations where is easier to access knowledge and collaborate with nearby inventors. Overall, this work offers important policy and managerial advice to improve the inclusivity and performance of the innovation economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.