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While innovation is core to American identity, women inventors were named on only 13% of 2019 U.S. patents. In part, that's because women's patents are less likely to make it through the examination process.

Research by the University of Washington and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, found that some simple interventions increased the probability that female inventors would get patents by 12%. For first-time applicants, that probability increased to 17%. The study, the first randomized controlled trial of inventors at the USPTO, followed inventors who applied "pro se," meaning without the help of a lawyer. Researchers randomly assigned some senior patent examiners to provide extra help and encouragement navigating the complicated examination process.

The paper was in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

The study began in 2014, when the USPTO created a unit to help pro se inventors through the patent process. The office selected 15 senior patent examiners, who received 20 hours of training on strategies to better assist pro se inventors. In the span of a year, 2,273 applications were divided between the treatment and control arms. Of those applications, 16% had more than half women inventors.

In the treatment arm, examiners used more encouraging language and gave more detailed responses in their first written decisions. They also prompted the applicants to call for an interview about the decision. Interviews increased 25% for both genders, but majority-women teams were 8% more likely to work out specific changes in those interviews.

"This was a very effective, fairly low-cost program," said author Mike Teodorescu, a UW assistant professor in the Information School. "There's this ideal of the garage inventor tinkering with something, coming up with an idea to start a company. That group of people usually doesn't have access to lawyers, so they apply as individuals. This intervention helped more people find success."