622.   The Swiss delegation would like to thank the United States of America for the submission IP/C/W/685 and other Members for sharing their national experiences and initiatives. Switzerland is glad to co-sponsor this submission and we would like also to thank different co-sponsors for sharing their national experiences and initiatives. 623.   In 2020, women constituted slightly more than half of the Swiss population.²⁹ Overall, women are fully participating and well engaged in the socio-economic life in Switzerland. Nevertheless, a number of efforts are still to be undertaken to provide equal opportunities for women and men across different social, cultural, and economic fields to achieve better balance. The intellectual property area is not an exception. WIPO's IP Statistics Data Centre, which offers gender-based indicators in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications highlights that, on average, there are less women inventors and only few countries reach a fair balance in the number of male and female patent applicants and inventors. 624.   According to this online service, the share of applications with at least one Swiss woman inventor has risen from 15% in 2000 to 31.1% in 2020. These statistics show a correlation between the adopted measures to encourage more women to select technology-related studies and the increase in the number of women inventors. These efforts are ongoing. 625.   One reason mentioned in submission IP/C/W/685 for the low number of women inventors is that women are less likely to study technological, mechanical, and scientific majors for their studies at high schools and universities. Therefore, one of the objectives of the Swiss 2030 gender equality strategy is increasing women's representation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) study paths in tertiary education.³⁰ 626.   There is an example of an outstanding Swiss female inventor, who contributes through her work to high-tech innovation and uses the IP system for this purpose. This woman is Dr Ursula Keller. In 1993³¹, this scientist and inventor became the first woman to teach physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.³² Her research interests explore and push the frontiers in the field of laser, semiconductor science and measurement technology. In 2018, Dr Keller won the prestigious European Inventor Award awarded by the European Patent Office. With light bursts lasting less than a trillionth of a second through the successful conversion of laser light into ultra-fast laser pulses, Dr Keller's patented inventions bring tremendous benefits to electronics and car industries as well as for medical diagnosis and surgery. For instance, in the field of eye surgery, Dr Keller's laser technology delivers the precise amount of energy required to make thin incisions without causing damage to the surrounding tissue.³³ 627.   Last, but not least, in order to improve gender equality, Switzerland has implemented several policies including in the field of education. For instance, "Swissuniversities", the umbrella organisation of the Swiss universities, has launched in 2017 a project called "The Equal Opportunities and University Development". This programme aims to promote a balanced gender ratio at all career levels and in other dimensions to further equal opportunities and diversity in higher education.³⁴ 628.   Moreover, the Swiss Innovation Agency, Innosuisse, has given for many years special support and responds to women's specific needs by individual coaching.³⁵ Innosuisse also runs a dedicated webpage on Women and Innovation³⁶ with useful advice and testimonials of other female entrepreneurs. 629.   To sum up, my delegation is convinced that targeted, practical, and effective policies and initiatives help increase women's participation in the intellectual property system, and thus contribute not only to women's economic empowerment, but also to more competitive economies and to more inclusive societies. From a broader perspective, it is important that we continue working together in the WTO to remove barriers for women's economic empowerment and increase their participation in trade, to share experiences and best practices and to strengthen the collection of gender-disaggregated data. Switzerland is a signatory of the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration and an active Member of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender. 630.   It is also important that we continue to include these issues into the regular work of WTO bodies, and thus that we draw attention to and discuss these issues in the TRIPS Council, in continuation from our past discussion in 2015, in order to ensure that intellectual property rights can benefit all the society. We are interested to hear other national experiences on how to promote the role of women in innovation and what measures they take in the field of intellectual property to support these efforts.