This year's campaign slogan "Women and intellectual property: accelerating innovation and creativity" highlights the remarkable successes of women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs and their contribution to cultural and economic development, as well as the challenges and obstacles they face.

Intellectual property rights bring many advantages in the marketplace and have a direct impact on economic growth at all levels of development. Women creators and innovators play an important role in shaping our common future and we must work to reduce the gender gap.

Research shows a significant gender gap

The WIPO study on the global gender gap in innovation and creativity found that in 2022, women were involved as inventors in the development of only 16.2% of technologies for which a patent application is filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), or that 96% of PCT applications listed at least one male inventor and only one-third of applications listed at least one female inventor. At the current rate of growth, gender parity would not be achieved until 2064.

WIPO has therefore addressed data collection, strategic advice to countries and pilot projects in its recently published Action Plan on the Role of Intellectual Property in Supporting Women and Girls.

The data from the European Patent Office (EPO) survey on women's participation in inventive activity is also not encouraging. Only 13.2% of European inventors listed in patent applications are women. Slovenia ranks slightly above the European average with 17.4%.

A report published today by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on women in the design sector reveals that the European Union is well below the levels of South Korea, China and the United States in terms of the proportion of female designers. Women designers earn on average 13% less than their male counterparts and were cited in only 20.9% of Community design applications registered at EUIPO. Slovenia is also slightly ahead in this area, with an average female share of 21.2%.

Brochure "Slovenian female artists and copyright and related rights"

At the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, we are joining the global campaign with various activities. In addition to an online lecture on the basics of intellectual property, which was held on the occasion and targeted specifically at women, we also presented the importance of intellectual property protection to several hundred participants at a meeting of Slovenian women entrepreneurs.

We pay tribute to inspiring women by publishing a brochure presenting sixteen important Slovenian female creators of the 19th and 20th centuries who worked in the fields of literature, fine arts, theatre, dance, journalism, translation and teaching.

In a time that was less favourable to women in the arts than to their male peers, they broke barriers and achieved breakthroughs, paving the way for their successors. The brochure also provides answers to frequently asked questions about copyright and related rights, thus promoting the intellectual property system. It is illustrated with original portraits created by a Slovenian female artist. The publication of the brochure was supported by the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

You can pick up a hard copy at our reception today, or you are welcome to browse the Slovenian Women Creators and Copyright and Related Rights brochure online.

On the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day, we wish all women creators, inventors and entrepreneurs many creative and innovative ideas and their successful realisations!