NIPO’s Kathrine Myhre: equality is an ‘ongoing process’ in Norway

WIPR spoke to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s director general to find out how the country is striving to close the gender gap, tackling injustices against minorities and adapting for the future.

Norway was ranked as the second most socially progressive country in this year’s Social Progress Index, and is considered a trailblazer in terms of gender equality. In 2005, it became the first nation to introduce a 40% gender quota on the boards of listed companies—and extended this bill last year to include large-and mid-sized private firms.

The appointment of Ida Wolden Bache in 2022 as the first-ever female governor of Norges Bank further suggests a society that encourages women to reach top positions.

At the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), Kathrine Myhre—recognised as a WIPR Influential Woman in IP in 2022—has been director general since 2021, having spent over a decade as the CEO of non-profit Norway Health Tech.

WIPR spoke to Myhre to hear her opinion on whether Norway has really broken the glass ceiling for women, what it could be doing better, and the future of innovation for a country heavily dependent on oil and gas exports.

Lack of female inventors

Myhre says her path to becoming the head of an organisation has not been hindered by her gender and that in fact in her experience, as a woman “you can even be more encouraged to take on jobs”.

“Women need to work as hard and prioritise as men do,” she says. For her, the most challenging part of being a female leader has been balancing her career with having a family.

Myhre believes that Norway does deserve its reputation as being progressive in advancing gender equality, and says that in public organisations there is a good balance between male and female CEOs and directors.

But the picture is different in the public sector, Myhre notes, where there are fewer female CEOs—suggesting that the country’s quota policies haven’t made the full intended impact yet.

Salary figures further suggest that there is still progress to be made. According to Statista, Norwegian women’s monthly earnings were 12% less than men’s in 2022—and that the country’s gender pay gap was around the EU average.

There are also occupational gender divisions, with more women working in healthcare, retail and education, and more men in construction, industry and transport.

Myhre tells WIPR that there is still a divide in the type of education that men and women are choosing, with more men going to technical universities and studying STEM subjects.

This imbalance is evident in figures from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which show that between 2020 and 2022, male inventors accounted for nearly 90% of patent applications from Norway.

“We still have a lot to do in Norway when it comes to encouraging women to start companies, to be innovators, the ones owning IP,” she says.

Myhre says that this balance is changing, and that addressing this disparity is “an ongoing process”, with work being done to help women become inventors and understand the role of IP.

‘We would like to be of assistance’

As well as improving gender equality, Norway is taking steps towards a more progressive future by attempting to reconcile historical injustices against its Indigenous people, including the Sámi community.

Last year, Norwegian politician Dagfinn Høybråten, who led a parliamentary commission into authorities’ policies and activities relating to Indigenous people, said that the country “doesn’t have a history to be proud of when it comes to the treatment of our minorities”.

This includes the policy of ‘Norwegianisation’, the attempted assimilation of non-Norwegian-speaking populations into a uniform nation which, among other repercussions, has led to several native languages becoming endangered.

In March this year, the Norwegian government apologised to the Sámi people for the construction of wind turbines on reindeer pastures on the Fosen peninsula, which, it accepted, constituted a human rights violation.

Myhre says that the NIPO has good relationships with organisations dedicated to serving the needs of the Sámi community, and has provided advice on IP-related matters including through seminars.

“Where we can be of assistance, we would like to be of assistance,” Myhre tells WIPR.

A more sustainable future

Myhre has always recognised the value of IP, and took a leading role in founding the technology transfer office at the University of Oslo where she studied political science—“to build the IP of research results”, she explains.

She is passionate about fostering the right conditions for innovation in Norway, and is particularly proud of her achievements in setting the health industry on the agenda.

“In Norway 15 years ago, we didn’t basically have a health industry but today we can say that we do,” she explains, and says there are lots of startups in this area.

These include Ekvi, a female-founded healthcare company launched in 2023 aimed at helping women manage endometriosis symptoms, and Oslo-based Diffia, which has created an app called Nimble that allows healthcare professionals to communicate with staff and patients while in hospital or under home control.

Encouraging innovation will be crucial for Norway as a major exporter of oil and gas, Myhre believes.

She says a lot of her current work is in setting new export industries for Norway—and that IP will be crucial to this or the country should “forget about going to the global market”.

Alongside large-scale plans for offshore wind energy production, smaller Norwegian companies are already looking at how they can use the country’s vast natural resources in sustainable ways. These include Lofoten Seaweed, a female-led business that harvests and sells seaweed and kelp to home cooks and Michelin-star restaurants across Europe and the US.

Myhre is positive about the direction the country is going in, and her role in championing IP.

She says the best thing about heading up the NIPO is “working with skilled, bright people with a lot of integrity, helping Norway’s developing industries, and being a part of seeing companies achieve their goals”.