Dear friends and colleagues,

World Intellectual Property Day in 2018 is held under the slogan “Powering Change: Women in Innovation and Creativity”.

In recent years, the world community has made significant progress in matters of gender equality in science and technology. The resolution “Science, Technology and Innovation for Development” of the UN General Assembly, adopted in December 2013, recognizes the full and equal access of women to science, technology and innovation, and the resolution adopted in December 2015 proclaims the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, annually celebrated on February 11. By its resolutions, the UN General Assembly recognizes the extremely important role of women in scientific and technological development and calls upon all countries of the world and international organizations to draw additional attention to the issue of women’s participation in science and scientific research.

According to the statistics published by the World Intellectual Property Organization concerning the patenting of inventions in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the share of international applications filed with the participation of women inventors reached 30.5% in 2016. The participation of women in the creation of inventions became the most significant in such areas of modern science as biotechnology (58.4%), pharmaceuticals (56.4%), organic chemistry (54.7%), food chemistry (51.1%), bioorganic chemistry (50.7%).

As the results of the activity and practice of the Eurasian Patent Office show, it is in these areas of science that the largest number of applications for the grant of Eurasian patents for inventions are filed, and the largest number of examiners, most of them are representatives of the female gender, are conducting examination in these topical areas of scientific activity.

Women invent and create works of art, promote the development of intellectual property and manage teams of researchers and developers. Combining a deep commitment to their profession, talent and incredible perseverance in achieving outstanding success in areas traditionally dominated by men, women make our world more perfect and beautiful!

EAPO congratulates all those who are involved in creative activity and creation of innovations, provision of services in legal protection, protection and commercialization of industrial property subject matters, promotion and development of intellectual property, and wishes happiness and big achievements in life, new ideas and their effective implementation!