A survey by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) of its member companies highlights a lack of both gender and racial diversity at the higher echelons of biotech. At the 98 companies who responded to the survey, women make up 45% of total employees, 30% of an executive team and 18% of the board, while people of color make up 32% of total employees, 15% of the executive team and 14% of the board.

BIO’s report is the first to look at racial diversity in biotech. The findings have prompted the trade organization to recommend that companies should put a disproportionately high focus on recruiting diverse board members — by using, for example, targeted talent networks rather than word of mouth and personal connections.

BIO’s gender-imbalance findings, however, aren't new to the industry. A 2017 report showed that women held only around one in ten of board positions. Another analysis by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entrepreneur Sangeeta Bhatia and colleagues forming the Boston Biotech Working Group investigated why fewer female faculty at MIT set up companies as compared with their male counterparts. Their findings suggest that 40 to 50 more biotechs would exist if female MIT faculty had begun startups at an equal rate to that of their male colleagues. In response, several Boston venture capital firms are pledging that the boards of their portfolio companies will be 25% female by the end of 2022. The premise is that board participation gives women access to a network of investors, scientists and other contacts needed to start a business. BIO hopes to run the survey annually with increased participation to track progress.