This years Lemelson-MIT Prize winner discusses grassroots ways for boosting the number

of women in technology and business.

I have a confession to make: Ive been living under a rock.

Ive actually been busy under here running a bioengineering lab at MIT, starting
companies, teaching, consulting, being a mom. But Ive been so focused on keeping all the
balls in the air that, until recently, I hadnt noticed that women typically arent the ones
starting technology companies.

To be fair, I had recognized that:

Girls choose engineering less often and drop out of engineering disproportionately (the
so-called leaky pipeline).
The percentage of women computer science majors peaked 30 years ago.
The higher I climb, the fewer other women there are at the table with me.

Closing the High-Tech
Gender Gap
Ive also seen progress in gender equity in higher education. I just didnt realize until
recently that the technology industry is light years behind.

In case youve also been under a rock, here are some numbers that I found truly
astonishing. Women lead only 3 percent of tech startups, account for only 4 percent of the
senior venture partners funding such startups and represent only 5 percent of the
founders, advisors and directors at MIT technology spinoffs.

Are you as shocked as I was? What if I tell you that more than 50 percent of students in
some MIT undergraduate science majors are women and thats been the case for almost
20 years? Where do these talented women go, and what are the implications of that drain?

If we believe that entrepreneurship is a fundamental engine of progress, that it is a path to
getting ideas into the world, then what does it mean for our society if the ideas that
germinate in the minds of all those young women rarely turn into companies with
products? (By the way, women-led private tech companies have 12 percent higher revenue
and 35 percent higher return on investment than those led by men, according to the
Kauffman Foundation. This shouldnt have to be true to make us care, but it actually is.)





The Lemelson-MIT Prize is an award for invention, for making discoveries useful through
commercialization, and for inspiring the next generation. As the 2014 recipient, I am truly
honored and grateful to the many people who have contributed to our collective track
record using miniaturization tools to impact human health.

Sangeeta N. Bhatia, an MIT researcher and professor, is the recipient of the 2014 Lemelson-MIT Prize.
Here are three things that made a difference for me:

Great expectations: My biggest fan and mentor has always been my dad, himself a serial
entrepreneur. When I became a professor, he had mixed feelings about me climbing the
ivory tower. To encourage me, he asked one simple question: When will you start your
first company? (As it turned out, I started my first company within five years. Since then,
my students and have founded 10 companies between us.)

Microclimate: Many have noted the chilly climate for women in engineering. Ive been
extraordinarily lucky. Of my college tribe of girlfriends, four of us are now successful
entrepreneurs. My best friend is among that 4 percent of women venture capitalists; in fact,
she was named one of Fortunes Most Powerful Women. Im fortunate to work alongside
female founder colleagues, MITs Technology Licensing Office, and the ever-inspirational
Professor Robert Langer. Indeed, my microclimate is actually pretty warm.

Men who believed in me: Much has been written about visible role models for women. I
try to be one, even when its hard to put myself out there. Along the same lines, I
appreciate having had a working mom who was a trailblazer, having been one of the first
women in India to receive an MBA. However, its worth noting that the people in my life
who have seen more for me than I saw for myself, who believed in me and promoted me,
were mostly men, including my graduate advisor, my first investor, and my husband. The
truth is that changing the face of technology requires the involvement of men who care
about it.

I will donate some of the prize money to the MIT Society of Women Engineers. This
organization runs fabulous outreach programs designed to keep young girls interested in
the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). I also look forward to
supporting a program for womens entrepreneurship in MITs upcoming Innovation
Initiative.

I hope other institutions will follow suit and such initiatives spread as quickly and far as the
ideas set forth in the gender equity report championed by MITs beloved former president
Charles Vest. I encourage you to also do your part: If you believe strongly in a talented
woman you know, why not ask her when she will be starting her first company? It could be
just the kind of great expectation that makes a real difference.