Spanish female inventors say 'eureka' (and yes, we beat Europe in this)

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The inventor's cliché associates this figure with someone sometimes scruffy who fusses with lights, cables, microscopes, sketches.

One day, he turns on a light bulb and a new finding counts to the credit of Humanity.

We add that in the collective imagination that person is usually a man.

It is true that in Spain,

inventors is a man, but it is also true that the female share represents 23.2%, a figure much higher than the European average (13.2%).

A study recently published by the

(EPO), which collects data from 38 countries, indicates that we occupy fourth place in terms of the proportion of women in our total number of inventors in the period 2010-2019.

Behind is Latvia (30.6%), neighboring Portugal (26.8%) and Croatia (25.8).

In contrast, the countries in the tail in terms of the rate of female inventors are Luxembourg, Germany, Liechtenstein and Austria.

If we broaden the focus a little more, the Spanish average is

(9.5%) and the

(15%), although below

, with 26.8% and 28.3% of inventions registered by women in 2019, respectively.

All in all, the OEP data point to a notable gender gap in Europe, since the female rate "is well below the proportion of women among researchers and graduates in science and engineering," they explain.

One of its consequences places women at a clear

, since a very significant part of the researchers' income is derived from contributions to patents.

In absolute numbers, this organization estimates that in Spain some 1,100 female inventors contributed to patent activity in 2019, which places it in fifth place among European countries, behind Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy.

One of the best-known Spaniards is

who won the 2022 European Inventor Award for her exoskeleton that helps children in wheelchairs walk.

But there are many more.

YO DONA has spoken with four women who have patented her findings and who come from disparate fields:

Celia Sánchez-Ramos: eye protection

Antonio Heredia

Celia Sánchez-Ramos (Zaragoza, 1959) is a doctor in Preventive Medicine and Public Health from the Complutense University of Madrid and a doctor in Vision Sciences from the European University, among other titles.

Her resume is too long, but in this context, it must be added that she is

(in more than 10 she is the sole inventor) related above all to the

through optical elements and devices. .

For these findings, she has been "Best International Inventor" (OMPI, 2009) and has won the "Grand Prize for Best International Invention" (ONU, 2010).

This researcher defends the patent system: "The inventor who patents is someone generous, because he makes his work public so that another can take advantage of it. We seek to solve problems and one of the requirements is that it has to be something new and that is why, when I They say that everything is invented,

".

Her 'obsession' is sight: taking care of it, making it profitable and preserving it to combat preventable blindness.

She has worked hard on it and today her inventions are marketed in many countries around the world.

In 2004, she invented

with a natural filter to prevent a part of the light, now known as blue light, from harming those operated on for cataracts.

With the output of the LEDs, Celia considered again how to eliminate that light: "It took me five years to find out, because you work with trial and error."

In 2015, she found the key and invented lenses and

for devices in order to preserve the cornea, the crystalline lens and the macula.

"Let's not forget that every year our eyes are exposed to 15,500 hours of light," she warns.

And she continues: "Children under the age of four should not use screens. Not one minute, not twenty-five."

Another of Celia's inventions is aimed at personal recognition by the cornea, instead of by the iris or the retina, a much more reliable method of avoiding identity theft.

Or a patent on a

that manages to

without eliminating peripheral vision.

As a woman, she acknowledges that motherhood "delayed" her career, although she does not regret it, and that in research "the glass ceiling is a reality."

On some occasion they came to promote a partner of hers instead of her because

"The curious thing is that he never had children and I did," she says.

She encourages women today not to be afraid and to seek help to reconcile: "It is impossible to reach everything and in the end they burn out along the way."

Nuria Espallargas: longer flights

EPO

Nuria Espallargas (Teruel, 1979) is a chemist, PhD in Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering and full professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

In 2022 she was a finalist for the European Inventor Award (OEP) for a patent that allows, thanks to a chemical process, the use of silicon carbide in the manufacture of more resistant coatings for aircraft turbines.

It serves, for example, to fly further.

Said like this, it's a bit cold, but: "We have projects now with the European Space Agency to use it in

."

He affirms that this material has so much potential that he is investigating to expand its applications with the intervention of a metal: "We want to produce steel, aluminum...", and that is as far as he can read, because until the thing sets, the inventors must be discreet.

"When I arrived at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NTNU, I was the only woman. I got my first contract in 2009 and I don't know if it was because of a woman, a young person or a foreigner, but I had problems with a colleague. But I am from Teruel, very stubborn," he declares.

Nuria confirms that now there are many more women at her university, although she admits that her specialty does not arouse many vocations among girls.

Iria da Cunha: editorial assistant

YD

"Science is also done in the Humanities and we invent things," says Iria da Cunha (La Coruña, 1980).

She is a member of the AJE (Young Academy of Spain), a PhD in Language Sciences and Applied Linguistics, and a professor at Uned, where she leads a research team called

.

This is also the name of her invention, a piece of software in the field of

that she has registered in the intellectual property registry.

His tool is a writing assistant, free and online, that helps to write specialized texts (in tourism, medicine, administrations) and plain language texts.

"It is used, for example, for a public employee to write

to a citizen (and vice versa) or to help a student write the Final Degree Project in academic language", explains Iria.

Since he invented it in 2016, it has not stopped growing: "I would like to adapt it to other languages ​​and add specializations, such as economics, politics, journalism...".

Carmen Hijosa: pineapple 'leather'

EPO

Carmen Hijosa (Asturias, 1952) worked with leather and on a professional trip to the Philippines she realized that it was not sustainable at all.

Too much energy, too much water, too many toxins.

She searched for an alternative and discovered that the fibers in

are strong, flexible and very fine, "almost like hair."

If they were intertwined, the result was a non-woven material, free of chemicals, and perfectly valid for making bags, wallets, shoes (one of her clients is Nike), upholstery, etc.

"It took me 12 years to do it," says this textile designer, but her product, Piñatex, hasn't finished its journey.

"It has a lot of potential and can be used to make dental floss,

, doctors' disposable gowns... We have developed a thread that will also be used to make clothes," she says.

Carmen was a finalist for the 2021 European Inventor Award (OEP) and has created five companies, but the beginnings were not easy: "The world of leather is very masculine and, in addition, I have created an alternative to its material."

She knows a reference for other women researchers, something that she did not have: "I encourage them to fight if they have an idea, because they are much more prepared than I was."

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