In France and in Europe more generally, female inventors are still visibly under-represented.

Between 2010 and 2019, only 16.6% of patent applications in France were filed by women, according to a study by the European Patent Office (EPO).

On the positive side, this proportion has however increased by 2.6 points compared to the last period 2000-2009,

Le Figaro

reported on Tuesday.

At European level, women are no better off.

The figure reaches 13.2%.

France ranks 13th.

There are more female inventors in Latvia (30.6%), Portugal (26.8%) or Croatia (25.8%).

On the other hand, Germany does not do better than France (10% of requests made by women).

29% female inventors in chemistry

“In the Baltic countries, in Portugal, in Spain, more patent applications come from universities and public research.

This mechanically increases the share of women, ”says Yann Ménière, chief economist of the EPO.

Female inventors are mainly present in the chemical sector with 29% of patents filed by female inventors, who work for example in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

But women are underrepresented in other sectors.

"There is a lack of women in the hard sciences such as mathematics, physics, computer science... While this is where there are the most inventions", underlines Claude Grison, chemist and winner of the European Inventor Award 2022, issued annually by the EPO.

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