The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published the ‘Gender profiles in worldwide patenting’ report. The report looks at the gender of inventors worldwide. Female innovators have doubled in the last twenty years, but women still only represented 12.7% of patent inventors in 2017 compared to 6.8% in 1998.

The report finds that:

• more than one in five patent inventions have a named female inventor
• the biggest increase of female inventors compared to males is in academia. Patents linked to female inventors in universities rose from 15% to 20% between 1998 and 2017. Women inventors in industry rose from 6% to 10% over that period
• industries with the highest numbers of female inventors are biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and organic fine chemistry. In these areas, approximately half of the patent applications filed between 1998 and 2017 named at least one female inventor
• the proportion of female inventors resident in the UK has risen from 8% in 1998 to 11% in 2017
• the highest proportions of female inventors in the UK were in Tyne and Wear (13.4%) and Oxfordshire (13.2%)

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Andrea Leadsom:

It’s inspiring to see the number of female inventors increasing in recent years. The UK has been home to some incredibly strong female innovators who have changed the course of history – from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who brought inoculation to the UK, to Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer.

We know that more needs to be done to inspire women to patent their ideas and turn them into real products and services. That’s why we’re investing in women’s talent, including through the Women in Innovation Awards, the Industrial Strategy Youth Prize and the NESTA Longitude Explorer Prize.

Tim Moss of the IPO said:

While it is great to see the trend improving there is still a long way to go. We must work harder to tackle the root causes of the difference and increase efforts to encourage and inspire more women to innovate, invent, design, create, and then maximise their commercial value through the IP system.

Notes to editors:

The research team looked at where female names appeared in worldwide patent information. The report covers the period from 1998 to 2017.

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack has today [2 October 2019] announced £25 million for a new Growth Deal covering Argyll and Bute.

The move is the next step towards completing the UK Government’s ambitious City and Growth deals programme in Scotland.

To date, the UK Government has committed £1.4 billion to the programme, which will create tens of thousands of jobs over the next 10 to 15 years.

In July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged £300 million to ensure all parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by city or growth deals.

Deals for Falkirk and the Scottish islands – completing the rollout in Scotland – will be announced in the near future.

As with previous deals, the UK Government commitment is expected to lead to additional investment by the Scottish Government and local partners.

The UK Government will work with partners to agree and develop an exciting set of projects that will boost the local economy and deliver skilled jobs.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

Our City and Growth deal programme is already having a transformative effect across Scotland.

In Aberdeen, for example, the city deal-funded Oil and Gas Technology Centre, is at the heart of efforts to maximise the continued potential of the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Among scores of other projects we are supporting Edinburgh’s hugely exciting new concert hall, the Dunard Centre, and we are funding a Tartan Centre in Stirling which will attract visitors from around the world.

We are investing heavily in research and development in our universities and, together, these projects can transform the Scottish economy.

I was delighted when the Prime Minister committed to completing the programme in Scotland and I’m extremely pleased today to announce a real boost for Argyll and Bute.

Strengthening the Scottish economy is a key priority for us. The UK Government is delivering for Scotland.

The Argyll and Bute deal follows a series of UK Government announcements that will support the Scottish economy.

They include:

• A £1.25 billion contract to build the Royal Navy’s new Type 31 frigate, which will secure jobs at Rosyth.
• A £211 million boost in support for farmers, which resolves a long-standing issue over Common Agricultural Policy allocations.
• Bringing the COP26 international climate change conference to Glasgow.
• Contracts for Difference support for six more offshore and island wind farms in Scotland.

In addition, it was announced at the weekend that the Scottish Government’s Budget will receive an extra £290 million as a result of a new hospital building programme in England. The sum was on top of an additional £1.2 billion in the recent spending review.

To strengthen the Union and Scotland’s place in the UK, the Government has:

• Created the new post of Minister for the Union, held by the Prime Minister. The move will ensure that policy decisions across Government work to strengthen the Union.
• Established a Union Unit within Downing Street. The unit is tasked with reviewing the impact of all policy proposals on the Union, ensuring all nations and regions are taken into consideration.

Public spending was £13,862 per head in Scotland in 2017/18, compared with a UK average of £12,090. The difference contributes to a Union dividend worth nearly £2,000 for all Scots.

UK Government funding has been announced for the following City and Growth deals in Scotland:

• Glasgow City Region City Deal
• Aberdeen City Region Deal
• Inverness and Highland City Region Deal
• Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal
• Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal
• Tay Cities Region City Deal
• Ayrshire Growth Deal
• Moray Growth Deal
• Argyll and Bute Growth Deal

The Universities of Bristol and Nottingham will share over 500k to lead a consortium of experts on research projects into bioengineered blood and soft tissue regeneration, respectively. The research could not only save lives, but could also improve the quality of lives of injured personnel.

The funding is awarded at Phase 2 of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Regenerative Medicine themed competition which is facilitated and managed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) on behalf of the MOD, in partnership with the Academic Department of Military Surgery and Trauma (ADMST).

Dealing with damage caused by blast or ballistic trauma, which may involve significant blood loss and multiple complex wounds, is a challenge for even the most sophisticated medical facility. Yet to do this in the austere and remote environments within which the military operate further complicates the delivery of medical care.

Approaches in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine hold great promise for the treatment of injured service personnel and the new ‘Defence regenerative medicine research strategy’ is focussed on delivering such advanced therapies in a way suitable for use in the field early after injury.

The 500k funding will enable the University of Bristol to continue its research to engineer a multi-compatible blood type, with an improved storage profile, that could be used to treat military personnel regardless of their blood type. This could transform the logistics of transporting and storing blood supplies on the front line. In the longer term, first responders like paramedics could also benefit from the portability of a blood supply that is suitable for all.

The University of Nottingham will continue to research a novel approach to preserve and regenerate soft tissue after blast and ballistic trauma through transient gene therapy. Preserving living tissue after injury is critically important, and will significantly improve quality of life.

Dave Henson, co-founder of the CASEVAC club, a support network for individuals that were severely wounded in combat, said:

Understanding that saving a life on the battlefield without due consideration for the future quality of that life is nonsensical. Significant progress has been made in the medical arena throughout the duration of recent conflicts. The development of technologies such as we’re seeing in this latest of the DASA competition, with the reduction in burden associated with blood supplies, and the immediate improvement of wound management techniques, provides strong assurances that the functional outcome from battlefield trauma will continue to improve.

Dr Abi Spear, Technical Lead for the regenerative medicine project at Dstl said:

I’m delighted that the Universities of Bristol and Nottingham have won this Phase 2 competition. Their work represents innovative, discovery science that’s high risk but with potentially huge clinical benefit.

Dr Adam Staines, Themed Competition Lead, DASA:

We are pleased that this competition has harnessed cutting edge bio-medical research that seeks to make a real difference on the front line and could also have positive implications for the civilian market in future too.

The Dstl regenerative medicine research strategy looks to support research in four areas, as defined by an evidence-based scoping study, through a variety of activities, including funding and collaboration. If you would like more information on the project as a whole please email DSTLRegenDefenceAccelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

We have assessed 11 ancient woodlands, parts of which were due to be affected by preparations to build Britain’s new high speed railway this autumn, during the period of the Oakervee review. Work will now be deferred to Autumn or Winter 2020 on 5 of these sites, and to early 2020 on 6 of the sites. We will also take measures to protect wildlife to ensure they are not affected when work begins in early 2020.

The work affecting 11 ancient woodlands will be deferred as follows:

Five sites to be deferred to Autumn / Winter 2020

• Roughknowles Wood
• North Wood
• Un-named copse off Drayton Lane
• Rookery Wood
• Burnt Firs

Six sites to be deferred to early 2020

In these locations, we will need to carry out measures to protect wildlife. This will involve some localised removal of selected tree branches for essential protected species mitigation works to meet legal requirements ahead of the works in early 2020. However, we will not remove branches from any ‘ancient’ or ‘veteran’ trees within an ancient woodland so as not to affect the integrity of the ancient woodlands.

• Fulfen Wood
• Broadwells Wood
• Birches Wood
• Crackley Wood
• Unnamed Woodland south of Ashow Road
• South Cubbington Wood

Other essential preparatory works will continue including low level vegetation clearance, fencing and preparation of site accesses.

Of the 52,000 ancient woodland sites in England, 43 will be partially affected by HS2’s route between London and Crewe, and over 80% of the total area of these 43 will remain intact and untouched by HS2.

HS2 aims to be one of the most environmentally responsible infrastructure projects ever delivered in the UK. It will be a greener way to travel offering some of the lowest carbon emissions per passenger kilometre, significantly less than cars and domestic air travel.

Seven million new trees and shrubs, including over 40 native species, specific to each location will be planted as part of the HS2 programme. The new native woodlands will cover over 9 square kilometres of land.

Over 33 square kilometres of new and existing wildlife habitat – equating to an area the size of 4,600 football pitches will be created. That’s an increase of around 30% compared to what’s there now.

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