According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, only 12.8% of all inventors named on U.S. patents are women. White Americans are three times more likely to invent than Black Americans. Children born to parents in the top 1% of income-earners are 10 times more likely to become inventors than those from families with below-median income.
Even the best students at under-resourced schools don’t have the success of mediocre students of higher income. A 2017 paper by Stanford University’s Equality of Opportunity Project found that the top 5% highest-scoring low-income kids were less likely to eventually become inventors than below-average math students from affluent
families. The study’s authors calls these kids “Lost Einsteins.”
Community IP wants to change this. Started by two patent professionals in 2024, Community IP’s goal is to help the vast, untapped well of talent by providing intellectual- property support to inventors who are historically underrepresented. Community IP will democratize access to intellectual property by offering expert patent services to
innovators who might otherwise be unable to afford them.
