WATCH: Qualcomm’s GC on moving the dial faster

Research shows that gender parity in international patenting will only be achieved in 2061. Ann Chaplin, the chip maker’s general counsel, shares how the company is aiming to accelerate this timeline.

Chaplin, who serves as a member of the executive leadership team with global responsibility for all legal operations and functions, has broad experience across the legal, technology and business spectrum.

Before joining Qualcomm, she served as corporate secretary and deputy general counsel for General Motors (GM).

Keenly aware that there is "much to be done" in terms of making the patent field more diverse, she points to a recent WIPO report that found that women represented only 13% of all listed inventors on international patent applications between 1999 and 2020.

While the women inventor rate is growing, with the fastest growth rates occurring in the last five years, the report found that gender parity in international patenting will only be achieved in 2061. That’s four decades away.

Chaplin and her team are trying to move the dial a bit faster.

In 2022, the chip maker set up the Inventor's Patent Academy, a free e-learning course to help people understand patenting and IP, and to equip them to apply for their own patents.

It also explores some of the challenges that inventors—particularly women, people of colour, individuals with lower incomes, people with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented inventors—may face and provides tools to overcome them.

Watch the video below to find out more...

Look out for more interviews with key industry figures coming soon.

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