Gender differences among innovators: a patent analysis of stars

ABSTRACT This article examines the gender gap in patenting activities and the predominance of male innovators among outstanding inventors, so-called ‘stars'. In particular, we investigate different metrics of productivity among top inventors, identified employing different definitions with respect to the quantity and quality of output. We distinguish between prolific inventors, with high numbers of patents registered in their name, and high-quality inventors, with portfolios comprising patents with large numbers of citations. Using patent data for more than 600,000 inventors, we find that star inventors differ from the pool of non-star inventors in terms of gender: while for non-star inventors being a woman constitutes a significant disadvantage, for stars it actually presents a positive association both with quantity and quality of innovative outputs. Moreover, career length constitutes a key premium for female inventors’ productivity, but with smaller magnitudes among stars. The only exception where we observe no gender differences is among inventors with large portfolios (more than five patent families): among them, women do not display any significant gap in the quality of outputs, nor does career length provide a gendered premium.