Women still underrepresented in UK patenting startups and doctoral-stage innovation
The EPO Observatory on Patents and Technology has published a new study on women in STEM today, highlighting Buckinghamshire as one of Europe’s strongest-performing innovation clusters for women inventors, while showing that the UK Women Inventor Rate (13.7%) is marginally below the European average (13.8%).
Released ahead of International Women’s Day, the report provides new evidence on women’s participation across inventive activity, technology entrepreneurship, STEM careers, and the patent profession.
Buckinghamshire: leading European innovation hub for women inventors
Among Europe’s most innovation-intensive regions, Buckinghamshire stands out for its comparatively high participation of women in inventorship. Based on patent applications filed with the European Patent Office between 2018 and 2022, Buckinghamshire (NUTS3 region UKJ13) records a Women Inventor Rate (WIR) of 17.9%, meaning that nearly one in five inventors named on European patent applications from the region is a woman. The Women Inventor Rate measures the share of women among all inventors listed on patent applications, regardless of whether the applicant is a large company, SME, university or individual inventor. The strong performance of Buckinghamshire partly reflects its sectoral specialisation, particularly in chemistry‑related technologies, which tend to show higher levels of female participation across Europe.
To ensure meaningful regional comparisons, the study focuses on the 30 European regions with the highest number of patent applications at the EPO over the period analysed. Within this group of leading innovation clusters, Buckinghamshire ranks 8th, placing it well above both the UK average (13.7%) and the European average (13.8%).
Cambridgeshire, ranked 12th among Europe’s leading innovation clusters for women inventors and the second UK region represented, records a Women Inventor Rate (WIR) of 15.6%, also above the national average, underscoring the UK’s strength in research-intensive innovation ecosystems.
UK women inventors: steady progress
The study shows that the share of women among inventors in Europe has increased only marginally in recent years, reaching 13.8% in 2019-2022 (up from 13% in 2019).
In the United Kingdom, women’s participation has also increased gradually, with the UK’s Women Inventor Rate (WIR) reaching 13.7%, placing the country on a par with the European average.
While women are increasingly present in inventor teams, they remain far less likely to be named as individual inventors, highlighting persistent structural barriers. Despite the UK performing well on a European level, the findings indicate that women continue to represent a clear minority in inventive activity, particularly in patent-related technology domains.
“There is an obvious gain for Europe in boosting women’s participation in innovation,” said EPO President António Campinos. “Diversity is not a nice-to-have, it is fuel for breakthrough innovation. This study exposes the persistent roadblocks in our path to progress so that Europe can unlock the full innovation potential across research, patenting, and entrepreneurship. The EPO takes an active role in this mission. Today, around a quarter of our examiners are women and this figure is increasing every year, thanks to targeted recruitment efforts. Last year, 31% of new examiner hires were women, and the proportion of women in our Young Professionals programme has stayed above 50%, ensuring a strong pipeline of future talent.”
Women remain strongly underrepresented in UK deep tech entrepreneurship
The gender gap is particularly pronounced in UK startups with European patent applications. Women represent only 10.8% of founders in UK patenting startups, while approximately 14% of startup teams include at least one woman founder.
A significant contrast arises when comparing patenting and non-patenting ventures. UK startups without patents show much higher female participation, with women accounting for 20.4% of founders and a WPI of 27.4%.
This disparity suggests that while women are actively engaged in entrepreneurship, they are underrepresented in patent-intensive and technology ventures.
The study indicates that structural factors, such as sector specialisation, company maturity, and growth stages, largely influence this gap. After considering these factors, the gender gap in the UK closely aligns with broader trends observed across Europe.
Widening gaps over time and untapped potential for innovation
Women remain under‑represented among patenting PhD graduates in the United Kingdom, even though they are strongly present at a doctoral level.
While women accounted for 34.4% of UK PhD graduates in STEM, participation in patenting during doctoral studies reveals a widening gap. The underrepresentation of women among STEM graduates who patented during their PhD increased from 9.6% (2000–2010) to 15.8% (2011–2020).
The study also finds that women’s research has comparable inventive potential to men’s, suggesting that lower female participation in patenting is not due to a lack of high‑quality research results, but rather to social, institutional and economic factors shaping career opportunities.
Women’s participation also varies sharply across technology fields across all European countries. Pharmaceuticals (34.9%), biotechnology (34.2%) and food chemistry (32.3%) show the highest proportion of women inventors, reflecting the stronger female presence in life‑science‑driven research.
Closing the gap in the patent profession landscape
The study takes a multi-dimensional look at women in science and innovation, going beyond inventors alone. It shows that women are also increasingly present in the professions that make the innovation system work.
In the UK, women represent 31.8% European patent attorneys, placing the country slightly above the European average (29.2%) level. Despite recent declines, the UK maintains a comparatively strong female representation within the patent profession.
These trends highlight both progress and ongoing opportunities to strengthen gender diversity across the UK’s intellectual property and innovation-supporting landscape.