Gender, occupational diversity of R&D teams and patents generation: an application to Spanish firms

Article  -  Friday, 25 March 2022

Teruel, M., Segarra-Blasco, A.: "Gender, occupational diversity of R&D teams and patents generation: an application to Spanish firms" R&D Management

This article analyses the relationship between gender and occupational diversity in R&D teams, and their effects on the capacity of the Spanish firms to generate patents. It is based on an extensive sample of 4,085 firms from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey over the 2004-2014 period.

The results show heterogeneous effects. Firstly, gender diversity does not affect a firms' capacity to register a patent. Secondly, occupational diversity exerts a significant positive impact which is more marked in relation to international patent offices. Finally, it highlights the importance of diverse occupations inside R&D teams. It is concluded that the roles are undertaken inside an R&D team, rather than its gender composition, have a greater impact on its generation of patents.

The paper provides evidence for the impact of diverse R&D teams on the generation of patents. From a dual perspective, it includes the gender dimension and the tasks performed by each R&D employee. The results highlight the importance of women having access to different roles in R&D.

Finally, the article considers the impact of diversity on a patent category in terms of territorial protection. In a more globalized technological market, the patent strategy adopted by a firm will affect its capacity to protect and exploit knowledge and worldwide technological diffusion.

Up