The effects of gender on the quality of university patents and public research centres in Andalusia: Is it better with a female presence?

Abstract

Much work has been done about the quality of patents as a tool to improve economic growth. However, investigations concerning the analysis of women’s participation in technological research are very limited. The aim of this article is to determine if female participation in a specific invention influences the quality of the patent. The research is based on the analysis, of the information which shows 498 patent applications and 1838 inventors from Universities and Public Research Centres in Andalusia (Spain), between 1990 and 2006. The main conclusion is the fact that the quality of the patent is higher when the inventor team includes both, male and female presence. According to the results obtained in this work, we argue that it is therefore necessary to implement policies to promote greater contribution by women and the resultant implication in the fields of science and technology.