The 26th April marks World IP Day, a national campaign founded by WIPO to celebrate the innovations of intellectual property around the world.
Established in 2000, on the anniversary of the signing of the Paris Convention, World IP Day was created by WIPO to raise awareness of how intellectual property, including copyright, patents, trade marks and designs, impacts daily lives. Find out more about WIPO’s World IP Day events here.
This year, the theme for World IP Day is “Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity” and aims to celebrate the ”“can do” attitude of women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs around the world and their ground-breaking work” as well as raising awareness of the issues many females in STEM fields face on a day-to-day basis.
It is no secret that women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) industries are vastly outnumbered by their male co-workers; some studies show females as making up only 28% of the workforce. Typically, women are given smaller research grants and ultimately only make up 33.3% of all researchers, according to the United Nations. This ultimately means that many female entrepreneurs and inventors are missing out on pursuing opportunities and ultimately securing their Intellectual Property rights.
Schlich would like to take a moment to thank our female applicants and inventors for their dedication within their professions. Of course, our very own female team members must also be recognised for their continued hard work in promoting and assuring the patent rights of many female-, and male-, led inventions.