Steady rise in number of women brand owners and inventors: study

There has been a steady rise in the number of women brand owners and inventors in Singapore, according to findings from a study released by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) on Wednesday (Apr 26).

Between 2016 and 2022, the proportion of women brand owners that registered trademarks increased from 17.6 per cent to 23.4 per cent, and the proportion of women entrepreneurs rose from 17.9 per cent to 25 per cent.

The share of patents with at least one female inventor also increased from 21.6 per cent to 34.0 per cent between 2000 to 2021.

The study, titled Trade Mark, Entrepreneurship and Gender in Singapore, was released during the World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD) virtual event.

WIPD is celebrated annually by 193 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to raise awareness of IP and its role in encouraging innovation and creativity.

Speaking at the event, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Social and Family Development Sun Xueling said: “It is heartening to see more brand owners and women inventors in Singapore but there still remains a disparity between men and women seeking IP protection.”

“IP plays an important role in transforming ideas into assets and as we celebrate the new products and services women help to bring to the marketplace and society, more also needs to be done to help women use the IP system to protect their work.”

In line with the event, IPOS also featured women innovators who have made an impact in an online gallery titled ‘Trailblazers, #WomeninInnovation’.