By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
The number of women obtaining patents grew at an accelerated rate in the past 35 years — and in numbers considerably higher than previously reported.

Reported by the National Women’s Business Council who commissioned the study, the report demonstrates that the largest spike came in 2010 as 22,984 patents were granted to women (a 35% jump over the previous year). In 2009, women received 17,061 patents (a 4.5% increase over the 16,321 issued in 2008).

These are preliminary findings from a review of patents granted between 1975 and 2010 by the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office. Private research company Delixus has been commissioned to conduct the study determining the rates of women who apply for and receive patents.

The study will examine data on women with trademarks, the first of its kind to explore this issue in depth. This is due mainly to the fact that federal patent and trademark applicants were not asked for gender information before, and recently passed legislation will allow for tracking of gender data starting this year.

Photo credit: Kevin Dooley on Flickr.