Stars have no gender : female inventors and teams
The project examines the factors that underlie the success of women inventors in obtaining patents by looking at the peer effects that support the development of “stars”, i.e. outstanding innovators.
The exposure to specific innovation networks is key to the making of successful innovators and to overcome discriminations, bias and underrepresentation. Top inventors rely on networks, role-models and peer support like all innovators, but the evidence for female top inventors is scant.
In this project, we investigate the peer effects that favour the success of women in achieving the status of `star innovator’ through a variety of indicators describing their network. We explore these factors both in “gendered” technology sectors (STEM) and in fields with a higher presence of women, such as health care and sustainability and green innovation.