Though we are all aware of the gender bias in STEM, Microsoft wanted to understand the reasons why. While research revealed that the bias in today’s tech environment stemmed from gender stereotypes introduced during childhood, we did our own experiment to better understand.

We asked young girls if they could name any inventors. They quickly rattled off the names of male inventors. However, when asked to name female inventors, their answers, or lack thereof, showed us that there is a massive under representation of these female inventors alongside their male counterparts.

One girl stated “In school it was always a male inventor. I just realized that.” While there are successful women inventors, there's insufficient awareness of them and their contributions. It’s not that there is a complete absence of female role models in STEM, it’s that we just don’t talk about them, perpetuating the gender gap.

It’s become a cultural perception that women, are not believed to be inventors. The damage is profound as evident in the underrepresentation of female inventors in society. Make What’s Next campaign and the Patent Program aims to celebrate these role models, inspiring girls to invent and give them the opportunity to patent their idea.

The Make What’s Next campaign launched on March 7, 2016. The following day, the Patent Program was announced during the International Women’s Day Conference at the UN. The launch video was released in over 60 markets and led people to our landing page, which offered girls the tools to #makewhatsnext. Girls learned more about other aspiring female inventors, and a live carousel featured what people were making and sharing using the hashtag. Girls could also learn about other programs Microsoft sponsors such as DigiGirlz, the YouthSpark Hub and of course, the Patent Program.

The campaign continued in Austin where we invited girls interested in the Patent Program to talk to role models in tech at SXSW. Girls learned about the patent process and asked questions to help get their projects going. The Patent Program will be an ongoing annual effort, helping girls obtain patents and keeping them interested in STEM.

Makewhatsnext’s impacted more than the brand. It reignited curiosity in culture with searches for the term “women inventors” reaching a 3 year high!

Launch alone saw over 14k mentions in Twitter from over 12k individual handles. Since then the campaign has had over 14million views, creating over 184 million media impression across channels. It received a unanimously positive response, with over 754K shares with a consistently positive sentiment of 99.8%.

The campaign drove a 50% increase in engagement on the website, and resulted in 23% lift in searches for “Microsoft”. It delivered a 28 point delta increase on brand attributes such as “Microsoft is a brand I love”.

However, these numbers only supplemented our true victory:

“Sharing with my 6th grade science classes 1st thing tomorrow! Important for boys and girls to recognize there are women who have made amazing contributions that make our world a better place” – Facebook

Across all cultures, the perception is that women are less capable in science-technology. Over the years the social conversation about intellectual parity between men and women, especially within STEM has become a “me too” platform; where brands lean-in to offer passive commentary on the problem.

Our strategy strived to go beyond and offer a substantive solution. Microsoft empowers people to achieve great things. With the Patent Program, Microsoft empowered young girls to realize their love of science.

Launched through an online video, (knowing that teens spend approximately 9 hours per day online for school or homework); the program helped young girls with ideas become inventors and future role models.

Microsoft’s powerful message gave young girls role models and highlighted women’s contribution to STEM, sparking a conversation with young girls and their influencers too. MakeWhat’sNext wasn’t a tactic to sell something, it was a determined action meant to bridge a gap.

Only 7% of US patents are held by women, at the current rate it will take 140 years to reach gender parity. As a member of the science and technology community, Microsoft felt accountable to address this under representation.

Our brief: Challenge the gender stereotypes, celebrate female role models in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) and encourage girls to get involved. Gender parity is a popular topic many talk about, however, few are taking action to accelerate a resolution. So this year, Microsoft decided to be a part of the solution through our Make What’s Next campaign which launched our new initiative, the Patent Program.

The Patent Program is an annual commitment from Microsoft to help young girls bring their ideas to life and apply for a patent. We will provide the girls with a team of experts to guide them through the process, from the initial idea, to obtaining the patent which Microsoft will sponsor.

The program launched on International Women’s Day alongside a video getting to the heart of the problem. The Make What’s Next campaign seeks to let girls know that there are women in STEM doing amazing things, and they can too.