About women in ip e.V.
Our aim is to connect women in ip from different fields in order to promote and strengthen the exchange of experiences, to encourage cooperation in the professional context and to break new ground together. We have created an international non-profit platform that connects women in ip – offline and online. Our members include patent attorneys and lawyers, judges, patent examiners, professors, patent engineers, candidates and members of the opposition and appeal boards of the European Patent Office.
women in ip started in 2011 as a platform for women working in the field of intellectual property and was registered as a non-profit association in 2014. Since then, we have grown to several hundred members and are very proud to continue and succeed.
We regularly organize online and offline get-togethers, as well as specialized seminars and training courses for women in ip that are tailored to our professional group and exclusively designed to meet their professional needs.
Our latest addition is the Wednesday for women in ip online meeting – a 1.5 hour event – that covers many topics, from the latest developments in the IP world to soft skills. Attendance is free for members.
The meetings are held in German or English.
For more information, please visit our Events page.
We have also set up a mentoring program, matching mentees with mentors and then supporting the group for a year by organizing meetings (off and online) and soft skills training. Mentoring starts in the 2nd quarter of the year. Since the beginning of Mentoring, we have matched more than 60 mentee-mentor pairs. Most of them are still in contact, and we are seeing that the interactions are very rewarding.
History
Women still constitute a minority in technically-oriented professions. This is particularly true for professions that require a technical degree and several years of additional training, such as the field of intellectual property. Accordingly, the industry-specific conservative structures and the course of day-to-day work in industrial property protection are predominantly adapted to male needs. The potential for conflict begins with different approaches in communication, through the type of personnel management to the discussion of salary issues. These and similar experiences have been made by women working in the field of intellectual property, whether in the law firm, in industry, at court or in office.
Women undoubtedly have particular strengths and skills: they are often creative, keep an open mind to new projects and also consider out-of-the-ordinary solutions to problems. Many women show a high level of responsibility towards their employees and possess a gift for motivation. In addition, they have a distinct talent for organization and coordination, not least because women often manage their families and households in addition to their profession.
Our experience shows that the cooperation among women is usually very unproblematic and flexible. All these potentials of women and their working styles can be applied professionally profitable, if they complement existing structures positively and meaningfully. However, women have to start perceiving their own strengths by themselves and live them out consciously in their professional environment in order to make targeted use of them. Ultimately, it is not only us women who benefit from a continuous exchange in this sector on a professional and social level, but also the entire environment. Flexible, open and modern structures and communication channels are perceived and welcomed as positive changes from all sides. Conscious cooperation with women also offers new approaches and opportunities for male colleagues.