IP Federation/IP Inclusive “think tank” 23.9.20Social mobility & access to the IP professionsMeeting outcomes

Steps we can taketo improve social mobility and accessto the IP professions

The following is distilled from discussions at our 23 September 2020 virtual “think tank”, attended by representatives of many IP sector organisations. We begin with a summary of the main suggestions that emerged, followed by more detailed recommendations for their implementation. Specific short- and medium-term projects are also summarised in Annexes I and II.

The meeting objectives

The meeting aimed to identify practical outcomes that delegates’ organisations or departments could commit to, both individually and collectively.

Some of these would be short-term measures: we particularly wanted to identify projects to undertake – or at least initiate – to mark Careers in Ideas Week[footnoteRef:1] from 16 to 22 November 2020. Others might involve longer-term commitments. [1: https://ipinclusive.org.uk/careers-in-ideas-week/ ]

The meeting tackled eight discussion themes, through individually facilitated breakout sessions (see Annex III for more detail):

1. Outreach

2. Access

3. Career development

4. Unconscious and conscious bias

5. Particular issues for the STEM-related IP professions

6. Patent attorney qualification requirements

7. Evidence base

8. National policy

Additional discussions continued after the breakout sessions, via the meeting platform’s chat box.

Summary of key suggestions forimproving social mobility and access to the IP professions

Certain key ideas emerged from the breakout discussions, often linking several of the eight discussion themes. In particular, the IP sector needs to:

1. Improve the image that we project to people upstream:

· Raise awareness of our existence (and of the importance of IP per se)

· Dispel myths about our make-up, entry requirements and inclusivity, and about the nature of our work

· Emphasise the positive aspects of IP-related careers, with inspiring real-life case studies and role models

· Update the methods and platforms we use to deliver these messages in an appropriately tailored way.

2. Reach new people and places, widening the range of educational and training establishments we engage with, including to target students before they make career-limiting choices.

3. Recruit more fairly, using objective and contextualised decision-making to overcome biases that could arise not only on selection but also in advertising and outreach.

4. Address financial barriers to entry and progression, finding ways to support less wealthy recruits through training, re-training and career changes.

5. Explore bold systemic changes to entry requirements, for example new apprenticeship schemes and changes to qualification and assessment regimes.

6. Gather data to help us target our outreach work towards improving social mobility and to monitor our progress.

7. Work together as a sector, and where possible with government agencies, to maximise the effectiveness of these measures.

8. Involve the outreach charities, to help us reach the right people in the right way.

There needs to be senior level buy-in to ensure these projects progress and that adequate resources are committed to them.

Many will require longer-term commitments and may take a while to yield significant results, especially those relating to outreach and promoting our sector’s image. Thus, we also need to:

9. Reconvene annually to review progress, reflect, and refresh our efforts.

There are more detailed suggestions around these ideas below, including a section about action that could be taken in, or to mark, Careers in Ideas Week. Those identified as potential short-term wins, or as specific projects for the medium term, are summarised in Annexes I and II respectively.

More detailed suggestions1For Careers in Ideas Week (16-22 November 2020)

The meeting identified the following measures that would be feasible for the IP sector to progress in time for Careers in Ideas Week1.

· Individual organisations and departments (including the membership organisations) to confirm their senior-level commitment to improving social mobility and access; all to help IP Inclusive publicise those commitments.

· Each organisation or department to do at least one thing to help a relevant charity – perhaps a donation, or ideally by practical involvement with eg work experience opportunities, careers clinics and similar events.

· Individual IP professionals to help the charities as mentors, speakers, writers, coaches and/or facilitators, and generally as ambassadors for the IP professions. For example, each professional could pledge, say, half a day of their time to an appropriate project.

· Ensure these activities reach new potential recruits, in places not previously engaged by the IP sector.

· Showcase (eg on social media) true stories of IP professionals who have taken non-traditional routes into or through the IP sector, come from less privileged backgrounds, or overcome relevant challenges during their career.

· Begin a directory of IP professionals who are willing to speak or write about their IP sector careers to assist the charities.

· Use these opportunities to promote the Careers in Ideas[footnoteRef:2] campaign. [2: http://careersinideas.org.uk/ ]

All of the above are best done in association with the charities represented at the meeting, who can help us target our efforts appropriately. They will, for instance, be able to advise on the provision of Covid-19-compliant outreach activities (see for example the Teach First guidance on virtual work experience[footnoteRef:3]). [3: https://ipinclusive.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Teach-First-Virtual-Work-Experience-Employer-Brochure.pdf ]

Each of the charities has provided information about the work it does and the types of help it would appreciate from both individuals and organisations: see the Careers in Ideas charities directory[footnoteRef:4], initially compiled in connection with the think tank meeting. We suggest these “wish-lists” be used to identify suitable projects for Careers in Ideas Week. [4: https://ipinclusive.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/201008-charity-directory.docx]

There are further suggestions for getting involved with Careers in Ideas Week on the IP Inclusive website1. Section 2 below provides ideas for suitable outreach activities.

2Outreach

Suggestions for improving awareness of the IP professions and attracting a wider range of recruits, in particular from under-privileged backgrounds:

· Tailor our outreach materials (both content and delivery format) for the generations we are seeking to attract; use appropriate social media platforms.

· Recognise that different potential recruits will be incentivised by different aspects of IP sector careers; diversify and tailor our promotional messages accordingly.

· Focus on interactive experiences, and messages relevant to real-life situations, which the charities tell us are more effective than simply providing careers information.

· Involve recent school or university leavers, where possible, in creating our outreach resources (through internships for example?).

· Mention all types of career opportunities within the IP sector, including those in business support roles such as marketing, HR and IT, and including roles open to school leavers and other non-graduates.

· Ensure we reach all target audiences, from far upstream (schools, potentially even primary schools) to further and higher education establishments, also potentially returners (eg returning parents) and those transitioning between different IP roles or from another sector into IP.

· Ensure we reach new target audiences, not just those in establishments that already interact with the IP professions or whose family and friends have ready access. In particular, ensure we reach potential recruits from under-privileged backgrounds.

· Provide timely outreach for those about to make important subject or career choices (eg school years 9, 11 and 13 for GCSE, A-level and university/career choices respectively).

· Be aware of our current reputation; make the effort to dispel myths and overcome unhelpful stereotypes (eg elitism, difficult qualification processes), to clarify what our work involves, and to emphasise the positive aspects of IP sector careers.

· Ensure our careers messaging is consistent, from both employers and membership bodies.

· Provide more work experience opportunities for 15- to 18-year-olds (partnering with relevant charities), to raise awareness among participants, their peers, their teachers and their parents.

· Be aware of the impact of Covid-19, which can help us to reach more people but also brings a need to tailor delivery methods and to be aware of new, IT-related access issues for some target audiences.

· Create “collaborative circles” in which different types of IP professional (for example, patent or trade mark attorneys, IP solicitors and IP barristers; or professionals from private practice, industry and government) work together to deliver more joined-up images of the IP sector, for example through joint work experiences projects.

· Consider creating an app to introduce students to IP – and thus to IP careers – through everyday situations and products. (See the point above about internships, which could bring in the technical skills we need to build new outreach materials like this.)

· Consider creating IP-specific training modules for schools and/or universities, as a taster for and potential springboard into IP-related careers.

A lot of this can – and we suggest should – be done through Careers in Ideas2, which provides an established platform for sector-wide outreach and recruitment and for which resources on IP-related careers have already been created. Careers in Ideas allows us to work together as a sector, both amplifying and diversifying our messages and increasing our influence as recruiters.

In order to improve the effectiveness of our awareness-raising and outreach efforts, we should also work with:

· Relevant charities, as mentioned at 1 above.

· The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO)’s outreach teams, who already produce outreach resources and IP training modules for schools[footnoteRef:5] and universities[footnoteRef:6]. [5: See “Cracking Ideas” (https://www.crackingideas.com/)] [6: See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ip-in-education/ip-in-education, for example references to “IP Tutor” and “IP Tutor Plus”]

· Relevant external organisations, eg the Law Society, to include IP-specific careers as a subset of the careers they promote.

· Providers of aptitude-testing and career assessment tools.

· One another! Many IP sector organisations have already produced case studies, videos etc to introduce IP to the wider community: these could be shared and promoted through Careers in Ideas.

Short-term wins

· See 1 above for suggested outreach work to mark Careers in Ideas Week.

· Through Careers in Ideas, collate and publish information about relevant charities, building on the current IP Inclusive compilation4, to help IP professionals target their support.

Medium-term projects

· Create a toolkit, and ideally associated training, to equip IP professionals to do effective outreach and to attract, recruit and retain people from less privileged backgrounds.

· Building on the Careers in Ideas Week webinars1, draw on the expertise of the outreach charities, of external guidance such as the Social Mobility Commission’s Socio-economic diversity and inclusion employers’ toolkit[footnoteRef:7]) and the Sutton Trust’s Social mobility in the workplace: an employer’s guide[footnoteRef:8], and of IP professionals with relevant experience. [7: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/863502/Employers_Toolkit.pdf ] [8: https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Social-Mobility-in-the-Workplace-An-Employers-Guide.pdf ]

· Encourage IP sector organisations to share their experiences of outreach work and the best practices they have developed; collate and share information in the ways suggested in 7 below and incorporate successful case studies into the toolkit.

3Access (including for mid-career role changes)

Suggestions for improving access to the IP professions for people from a wider range of backgrounds:

· Adopt measures to ensure our recruitment and promotion systems do not discriminate against people from under-privileged or less conventional backgrounds. In particular:

· Make our communications about career and training opportunities as inclusive as possible (eg in terms of language used, role models presented, and publication forums).

· Ensure that role specifications and criteria are objective; genuinely reflect the skills, knowledge and qualities needed rather than the route through which they were acquired; do not unnecessarily reflect existing role models; and are strictly adhered to in selection processes.

· Sift application documents “blind” to the names of educational establishments, and/or information about geographical origin, as well as to more obvious diversity criteria such as name, gender and age.

· Wherever possible, involve people from a range of backgrounds in recruitment decisions, and provide them with training to minimise the risk of unconscious bias.

· Incorporate bias “interrupters” at appropriate points in recruitment systems.

· Where feasible, practise “contextual recruitment”, taking account of the challenges that a candidate has encountered during their education or career.

· Recognise improvements in team diversity and inclusion levels when evaluating and rewarding the performance of managers and leaders.

· Implement best practices such as those outlined in the IP Inclusive guidelines on recruiting for social mobility[footnoteRef:9] and the Social Mobility Commission’s employers’ toolkit7. [9: https://ipinclusive.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/1907-recruiting-for-social-mobility-guidelines.pdf ]

· Regularly review practices and communications to remove potentially discouraging messages for recruits from less privileged backgrounds.

· Where feasible, adopt policies that incorporate “diversity by design”, making use of affirmative action to improve socio-economic diversity. For example, require HR professionals and recruitment consultants to field a minimum proportion of candidates from currently under-represented educational establishments (eg non-Russell Group universities).

· Introduce alternative routes into IP professional roles (for example apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships – already being used in some parts of the sector, eg for IP solicitors), for those to whom the standard path presents a financial barrier, and/or whose interests and aspirations change mid-career.

· Establish financial support schemes for those in need, in particular to facilitate re-training or additional studies: consider for example bursaries, scholarships, sponsorship, and work experience collaborations between industry and the private sector.

· Provide additional training and support for those less familiar with the application and interview process and with workplace skills more generally.

· Provide tailored in-role support where necessary for employees from less conventional backgrounds (again, see the IP Inclusive Guidelines on Recruiting for Social Mobility9).

· Use the “collaborative circles” referred to at 2 above to provide work experience opportunities spanning a range of IP sector roles.

· Collect, celebrate and amplify success stories and role models from under-privileged backgrounds.

· Do this in particular in our outreach and recruitment activities and associated communications.

· Do it sensitively, mindful of individuals’ rights to privacy and of the need to avoid tokenism.

· Publicise the outreach work done by our own organisations and colleagues, so as to incentivise similar efforts from others.

· In the longer term, consider appointing a coordinator for the sector’s outreach work – in particular through Careers in Ideas – to ensure appropriate follow-through and downstream results.

Short-term wins

· Collaborate with charities to provide taster days, work experience opportunities and guidance on application, interview and workplace skills.

Medium-term projects

· Establish cross-sector working groups to progress:

· Financial support schemes

· Alternative routes into professional roles, in particular apprenticeships

4Conscious and unconscious bias

Several of the suggestions for levelling the playing field, and minimising the impact of bias in our recruitment and career development processes, mirrored those raised in connection with improving access (see 3 above). The most important was to re-evaluate our definitions of the “best person for the job”, based on specific and objectively-justifiable knowledge, skills and experience. Contextual recruitment, incorporating a holistic assessment of a candidate’s route to entry, was also felt important.

Additional suggestions were to:

· Secure profession-wide agreement on the types of bias that might arise, how they hinder fair and non-discriminatory recruitment, and how to tackle them. This exercise could embrace in particular:

· Biases and stereotypes associated with secondary characteristics such as accent and dialect, or dress, tattoos and other aspects of appearance.

· Unjustified assumptions, for example that every candidate from a Russell Group university got there because of a privileged background as opposed to hard work against the odds.

· Conclusions drawn from first impressions, that may belie a candidate’s true potential.

· Evaluations based on a candidate’s early life experiences (for example early parenthood and/or poor initial job history), without regard to the person they have since become.

· Both (i) human biases and (ii) those inherent in automated systems.

· Equip employers with the tools (eg check-lists) and training to carry out bias impact assessments for their recruitment, performance review and career development systems, and to ameliorate the adverse biases they identify.

· Monitor socio-economic diversity levels at different stages of staff recruitment and development, to identify where bias might be arising.

· Be particularly alert to bias against people who enter the IP professions through non-conventional routes or at less common times in their lives, or from less common social, cultural, educational, geographic or economic backgrounds.

· Create an IP Inclusive-approved recruitment process for reducing the risk of bias.

· Draw on guidance available in the wider community, for example the Social Mobility Commission and Sutton Trust publications referred to at 2 above.

· Encourage IP sector employers (in particular IP Inclusive Charter signatories) to commit to the approved process.

· Encourage in-house professionals to evaluate their IP professional contractors at least partly on the basis of their D&I credentials and the fairness of their recruitment systems.

· Encourage all IP professionals to undergo unconscious bias training to equip them to identify and counter their individual biases and associations.

Medium-term projects

· Establish a cross-sector working group to:

· Identify the types of bias that might arise, and best practices for addressing them.

· Create an IP Inclusive-approved recruitment process and bias impact assessment toolkit, where possible combining this with work done in response to IP Inclusive’s 29 July 2020 round table on BAME representation levels[footnoteRef:10]. [10: See https://ipinclusive.org.uk/newsandfeatures/and-were-off-positive-steps-towards-better-bame-representation/ ]

5Particular issues for the STEM-related IP professions

Many of the suggestions under this heading mirrored the general desire for wider outreach, to raise awareness of careers in the IP sector and attract recruits from currently under-represented areas. Again, it was felt that the charities would be best placed to help us target the people whose STEM education is not currently leading them towards a professional career.

Also deemed important was the creation of support schemes (in particular financial support) of the type mentioned at 3 above, to help those with STEM backgrounds to retrain in order to move into, or progress within, IP sector careers. A career change that involves additional study and qualifications, and/or a salary cut, could be a barrier to entry for many potential STEM recruits.

Other suggestions included:

· Ensure school students understand the longer-term career opportunities facilitated by a STEM background, to discourage them from giving up on STEM too early in their education.

· In a similar vein, emphasise the versatility of STEM as a basis for many types of careers, not just in IP, and thus an attractive choice for students who wish to keep their options open.

6Patent attorney qualification requirements

It was agreed that the UK qualification system presents fewer access issues than that for the European Qualifying Exams (EQEs) at the gateway to becoming a European Patent Attorney. Current indications are that those responsible for the UK system are more likely to consider alternative, more accessible, routes to entry, whereas the European Patent Office (EPO) appears to be less flexible and indeed to be contemplating more stringent entrance requirements.

Suggestions included:

· Through the IPO (which represents the UK on the EPO’s Administrative Council), lobby for more accessible qualification systems for European Patent Attorneys. In particular address:

· The requirement for a full-time STEM degree, which is particularly unhelpful for those who retrain mid-career via a remote learning and/or part-time course. (NB there was some ambiguity over whether this requirement still applies.)

· The limited range of qualifying STEM degree subjects/subject combinations.

· The proposal to require a Masters degree or higher in the future.

· For multi-national organisations, try to influence these issues from within other European Patent Convention states.

· Explore alternative routes to qualification as a UK patent attorney, for example via apprenticeships and training contracts, and schemes to assist those for whom the current system carries too high a financial burden.

Short-term wins

· Send initial representations to the IPO, for raising with the EPO’s Administrative Council, regarding the impact of the EQE entry requirements on social mobility and diversity more generally and the UK profession’s desire for change.

7Evidence base

Suggestions for improving the evidence we have about the IP sector’s work to improve social mobility and access:

· When gathering diversity data among IP professionals (eg through the regulators or membership bodies or IP Inclusive’s benchmarking surveys), include questions about:

· People’s early educational background, including the types of schools they attended, whether they qualified for free school meals, their parents’ educational and professional backgrounds, the region they were brought up in, and if applicable whether they were part of the first generation in their family to attend university.

· The further or higher education establishments they attended and the qualifications they achieved there.

· Correlations between socioeconomic or educational background and (a) where people end up working and (b) their career progression.

· How they found out about the IP professions (to help us focus our future outreach).

· At what age, and at what point in their education, they entered the IP professions.

· What if any hurdles they’ve encountered – or expect to encounter – to their career progression, because of their socioeconomic or educational background.

· Refer to publications from social mobility charities and related organisations for guidance on the type of data that would allow us to benchmark our progress in a wider context.

· Ensure consistency in the types of data gathered, both across the sector and over time, to assist in charting progress. Encourage collaboration on this between individual organisations, including IP sector membership bodies and regulators.

· Collate sector-wide information about the outreach work being done by individual organisations; the charities and educational establishments they have collaborated with; and the types of support they have provided, in what ways, and to whom.

· Feed this information into work on IP sector outreach toolkits, as discussed at 2 above.

Short-term wins

· Collate and publish information about relevant charities, as discussed at 2 above.

· Include the suggested social mobility questions in IP Inclusive’s 2020 benchmarking survey.

8National policy

Many of the suggestions under this heading related to getting better IP education and awareness into schools and other educational establishments (see 2 above). It was felt that the IPO and other government agencies could help with effecting this kind of culture change. Specific areas where wider government help might be sought include:

· Starting IP education early, in schools (as, for instance, the IPO’s “Cracking Ideas” campaign5).

· Emphasising the economic value of IP, at both local and national levels.

· Emphasising the importance of IP to innovation, creative endeavours, entrepreneurism and commercial success, not only to STEM-based R&D.

· Identifying new target audiences, for example in the newer universities.

· Framing appropriate messages and delivery methods to suit these audiences, and reinforcing the messages in other government comms.

· Publicising information about IP professionals who are willing to speak or write about their IP sector careers, for example the list referred to at 1 above.

· Benchmarking the UK’s IP education against that in other countries, so as to learn from those who currently have better levels of IP awareness among school leavers.

· Collaborating with relevant international organisations (eg WIPO) to spread the word about IP sector careers, and lobbying them to include social mobility on their meeting agendas.

· Sourcing funding for the financial support schemes referred to at 3 above.

· Coordinating the collection of consistent social mobility data both within the professions and (by way of a benchmark) across the wider community.

· Lobbying the EPO and other international organisations regarding the impact of their entry requirements on social mobility and access (see 6 above).

9General

Some general suggestions for making the most of the progress achieved so far:

· Publish prominently, promote, and encourage others to promote:

· The outcomes of the 23 September 2020 meeting

· Regular updates on our efforts to implement them

· The senior-level commitments referred to at 1 above.

· Involve IP professionals from a range of roles and career levels in their implementation.

· Recognise the value of involvement in this work (in particular careers outreach and work with relevant charities) when evaluating and rewarding people’s performance and career development, and allow them the time and resources to do it.

· For example, provide one day’s paid leave a year for each employee to get involved in outreach work, with the associated CSR and recruitment benefits.

· Use Careers in Ideas Week as a springboard, to raise awareness of this work, encourage involvement and kick-start new projects and partnerships.

· Work with the charities in order to maximise the effectiveness of our efforts.

· Share information about them, as suggested at 2 above; encourage and celebrate involvement in their projects.

· Look always to guidance available in the wider community, for example the Social Mobility Commission and Sutton Trust publications referred to at 2 above.

[This document was prepared by Andrea Brewster OBE, Lead Executive Officer of IP Inclusive, with thanks to the breakout session facilitators for their meeting notes and suggestions.]

Annex ISummary of short-term wins

· Collaborate with relevant charities in the outreach work suggested at 1 above, to mark Careers in Ideas Week.

· Work with them to provide taster days, work experience opportunities and guidance on application, interview and workplace skills.

· Begin a directory of IP professionals who are willing to speak or write about their IP sector careers to assist the charities.

· Through Careers in Ideas, collate and publish information about relevant charities, building on the current IP Inclusive compilation4.

· Include the social mobility-related questions suggested at 7 above in IP Inclusive’s 2020 benchmarking survey.

· [For the patent attorney profession] Send initial representations to the IPO, for raising with the EPO’s Administrative Council, regarding the impact of the EQE entry requirements on social mobility and diversity more generally and the UK profession’s desire for change.

Annex IISummary of medium-term projects

· Create a toolkit, and ideally associated training, to equip IP professionals to do effective outreach.

· Create a list of IP professionals who are willing to speak or write about their IP sector careers to assist the charities’ outreach efforts.

· Establish cross-sector working groups to progress:

· Financial support schemes

· Alternative routes into professional roles, in particular apprenticeships

· Establish a cross-sector working group to:

· Identify the types of bias that might arise, and best practices for addressing them.

· Create an IP Inclusive-approved recruitment process and bias impact assessment toolkit.

Annex IIIBreakout discussion themes

1. Outreach

· How can we make more people – in particular those from less privileged backgrounds – aware of IP sector careers?

2. Access

· How can we improve entry-level access for people from less privileged backgrounds?

3. Career development

· How can we help people from a wider range of backgrounds to switch careers, either into or within the IP professions?

4. Unconscious and conscious bias

· What role does bias play in restricting social mobility and access in the IP professions (both at entry level and during career development)?

· How can we eliminate it?

5. Particular issues for the STEM-related IP professions

· What special challenges affect our ability to attract and recruit people from less privileged backgrounds into STEM-related IP professions (eg as patent attorneys, solicitors or barristers; as patent examiners; as patent searchers)?

· How can we overcome those challenges?

6. Patent attorney qualification requirements

· What special challenges arise, in the context of improving social mobility, from the qualification requirements for UK and European patent attorneys?

· How can we overcome those challenges?

7. Evidence base

· What data should we seek to gather, to monitor our progress and benchmark against social mobility metrics outside our sector?

8. National policy

· What can government – in particular through the IPO – do to help us improve social mobility and access to the IP professions?

· Where, how and on what should we be lobbying for wider changes to support the IP sector’s own efforts?

IP Federation/IP Inclusive social mobility & access think tank 23.9.20

Meeting outcomes 20.10.201

IP Federation/IP Inclusive social mobility & access think tank 23.9.20

Meeting outcomes 20.10.201