News
Illinois Ventures and The Chicago Community Trust Launch the Greater Than Pilot
Illinois Ventures is thrilled to announce the launch of the pilot of the Greater Than program. Funded by The Searle Funds a The Chicago Community Trust, the Greater Than Pilot (GTP) will research and report on the current state of the local translational research landscape and how under-represented groups engage with the innovation hubs in the city.
Using the experiences of female academic biomedical researchers as a case study, GTP will explore the extent to which individuals in under-represented groups engage in Chicago’s entrepreneurial community, the resources that support them, and the hurdles that may impede their full participation.
From Lab to Market
Universities produce some of the world’s most innovative STEM research. Academic life science and tech discoveries drive innovation and technological advancement, ignite transformative community enhancements, improve quality of life and health, and fuel economic growth. But to achieve these impacts, discoveries must successfully transition from the laboratory into the real world, usually through startups or licenses to existing companies. This type of innovation – translational research – brought us everything from the internet and quantum computers to CRISPR and treatments for cancer.
Unfortunately, there is still a significant gap in representation for women in university STEM innovation. GTP will explore factors that enhance or impede diversity and inclusion in STEM at the very first step – university research with commercial potential. Through this project, we hope to learn how Chicago can best support underrepresented university innovators.
In recent years, research has emerged on women in STEM, women in entrepreneurship, and university-based innovation, but comprehensive research on the cross-section is lacking. To understand why women are under-represented in university STEM innovation, we need more data.
The National Landscape
Women have made significant strides in STEM in recent decades. Nationally, Doctoral degrees awarded to women in STEM fields increased from 3-5X over the 40 years from 1967-2007 and have remained generally steady since then. However, women who enter the STEM workforce in industry or academics continue to “leak out” at every level. One study at Northwestern found that women who remain in academic research experience a gender gap in funding. Northwestern’s 2019 analysis of NIH grants revealed that female scientists receive $40,000 less in federal funding than their male counterparts. Although women performed at the same level as their male colleagues, the disparity in funding meant they could not support as large of a research team or laboratory. Not only does this mean that women’s lab-based innovations can be slowed or halted, but research also shows that it hinders women in patenting and further commercializing these innovations.
One of the first major milestones in the transition from lab to market is securing a patent. The USPTO provides excellent information on the national state of women in early-stage commercialization through their 2019 Progress and Potential Report and the 2020 Update.
Across all science occupations, the USPTO reports that women participate in the science industry at a significantly higher rate than they invent and patent-related technologies. In STEM and life science specifically, women are far less likely to pursue patents for their work. In 2015, women accounted for roughly 48% of biological and life scientists but represented only about 25% of inventors on biotechnology patents and 23% of inventors on pharmaceutical patents. As noted by the USPTO, women accounted for 39% of new entrepreneurs in 2016, but only 12% of inventors. This indicates that women are pursuing less scientific and research-based entrepreneurship and more social and consumer-based entrepreneurship.
Patents provide lucrative and prestigious opportunities. It’s fantastic that women are increasingly pursuing entrepreneurship, but by falling behind in patented inventions, women will continue to lose opportunities for financial gains and career growth.
Finally, women are still sorely underrepresented in STEM leadership. Catalyst’s 2020 Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Quick Take reports that while women who work in STEM earn more on average, they are more likely to work in the “periphery” of the field and make less money as a result. This means that there are more women serving in roles like lab tech than inventor, and pharmaceutical research analyst rather than pharmaceutical executive. As reported by Business Insider, 92% of biopharma CEOs are men, a leadership gap costing women $523M a year.
Our Local Landscape
Based on USPTO’s analysis of women inventors by state, Illinois only ranked 16th in the country. But there’s good news – local Universities have a strong pipeline of life science translational research and a growing pipeline of women, especially women in biomedical research. Chicago and Illinois have enormous potential.
Our friends at the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition release an annual report on the state of tech. The Illinois Innovation Index highlights the importance of university-based innovation and entrepreneurship using data from local tech transfer offices (key university departments that facilitate commercialization through licensing and patenting). Their most recent report provides insight into university activity from 2014 – 2019 and includes data on the 1,064 startups founded by our Illinois University faculty and students.
University Biotech in Illinois
Biotech represented the most prominent sector with (21%)
The biotech industry startups led funding raised more than those in all other industries combined ($749M vs. $646M)
Women in Illinois Innovation
Women’s participation in entrepreneurship is growing; an estimated one-third (33%) founded over the past five years were founded or co-founded by women
Compared with all university-supported startups, female-founded startups are more likely to remain active within five years (68.5% vs. 59.4%)
Female-founded startups on Illinois’ campuses were more likely to receive funding (52.9% vs. 40%)
It’s no coincidence that our universities are producing phenomenal work. Significant effort goes into building and supporting our ecosystem. Chicago is home to award-winning accelerators like MATTER and 1871; dedicated industry groups like Women in Bio, iBIO, and the Chicago Biomedical Consortium; a comparatively affordable lifestyle that allows companies to scale; and some of the top research universities in the country. University programs like The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s AWARE, UIC Undergraduate Women’s Network (UWN), Northwestern University’s INVOReach and Propel Program, and The University of Chicago’s Polsky Center offer support for women and underrepresented entrepreneurs across industries.
Where We Go from Here
But women’s representation in academic STEM entrepreneurship is a complex issue. And to solve complex issues, we need more data.
Our goal is to gather and report data that provides:
Insight into our local and campus innovation pipeline
A roadmap for curious and ambitious individuals as they engage with the entrepreneurial ecosystem
Information that will motivate and inform additional initiatives to support women in translational research
A framework for a more diverse, inclusive, and collaborative innovation ecosystem in Chicago
Thanks to the work of fantastic industry and ecosystem partners, we have a better understanding of women in STEM, women in entrepreneurship, and university-based innovation. Now, we want nitty-gritty data that zeroes in on Chicago’s university women in biomedical research and innovation. We want to know what Chicago’s superb at and where we have room to grow. We want to know about funding gaps, access to resources and support, and potential hurdles that underrepresented researchers encounter. We want to know what factors enhance or impede diversity and inclusion in STEM at the very first step – university research with commercial potential.
Starting in Winter 2021, GTP will gather qualitative and quantitative data by investigating UIC’s biomedical research community, Chicago’s innovation resources, the ecosystem’s strengths and weaknesses, and the engagement of diverse populations in the ecosystem. We look forward to sharing our findings in a report to be released in Fall 2022.
Because Chicago’s women in life sciences deserve data greater than what we’ve got. Because Chicago’s talent pipeline of innovators is greater than its rank. Because in STEM and entrepreneurship, the percentage of women participating and leading is always under 50, and Chicago’s women in life sciences are greater than that.
We’re thrilled to have a dedicated and forward-thinking partner in The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, and we’re looking forward to bringing all of Chicago – businesses, universities, startups, incubators, and civic leaders – onto our team as we take the next step in building Chicago’s dynamic, diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem.