IntroductionNew tools and approaches are necessary to facilitate public policy planning and foster the management of innovation in countries' public health systems. To this end, an understanding of the integrated way in which the various actors who produce scientific knowledge and inventions in technological areas of interest operate, where they are located and how they relate to one another is of great relevance. Tuberculosis has been chosen as a model for the present study as it is a current challenge for Brazilian research and innovation.MethodologyPublications about tuberculosis written by Brazilian authors were accessed from international databases, analyzed, processed with text searching tools and networks of coauthors were constructed and visualized. Patent applications about tuberculosis in Brazil were retrieved from the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the European Patent Office databases, through the use of International Patent Classification and keywords and then categorized and analyzed.Results/ConclusionsBrazilian authorship of articles about tuberculosis jumped from 1% in 1995 to 5% in 2010. Article production and patent filings of national origin have been concentrated in public universities and research institutions while the participation of private industry in the filing of Brazilian patents has remained limited. The goals of national patenting efforts have still not been reached, as up to the present none of the applications filed have been granted a patent. The analysis of all this data about TB publishing and patents clearly demonstrates the importance of maintaining the continuity of Brazil's production development policies as well as government support for infrastructure projects to be employed in transforming the potential of research. This policy, which already exists for the promotion of new products and processes that, in addition to bringing diverse economic benefits to the country, will also contribute to effective dealing with public health problems affecting Brazil and the World.

IntroduçãoPropriedade Intelectual é temática debatida internacionalmente envolvendo disputas políticas devido a questões ainda não resolvidas como: definição dos objetos e limites de proteção; conciliação dos interesses de empresas inovadoras e detentores dos direitos de Propriedade Intelectual com os interesses da sociedade; e equilíbrio entre países desenvolvidos -que dominam o conhecimento e fazem uso de mecanismos de proteção -e aqueles que necessitam promover o desenvolvimento para reduzir a pobreza e melhorar a qualidade de vida da população 1 . Em se tratando da indústria farmacêutica, que lida diretamente com a questão da vida, a discussão em torno das patentes farmacêuticas se torna ainda mais complexa e polêmica.De um lado, existe a retórica de que o monopólio temporário garante o retorno dos investimentos e riscos das atividades de Pesquisa & Desenvolvimento, dos gastos com o registro do medicamento e da colocação do produto no mercado. Além disso, o processo de desenvolvimento de novos fármacos é longo, mas a expiração da proteção patentária dos medicamentos existentes permitindo a entrada de produtos substitutos no mercado, como medicamentos genéricos, ameaçam a continuidade da vantagem competitiva das empresas inovadoras. O valor da proteção patentária não pode ser subestimado pelas empresas que perdem cerca de 80% de seus REVISÃO REVIEW

IntroductionCountries have traditionally been split into two major groups: developed or industrialized (“the North”) and developing or underdeveloped (“the South”). Several authors and organizations have challenged this classification to recognize countries that have reached an intermediate stage of social and economic development. As proposed by Morel and collaborators in 2005, the concept of Innovative Developing Countries (IDCs) defines a group of nations with impactful scientific programs. Here, IDCs are reexamined by a variety of metrics to highlight their role in health innovation through research and development (R&D) programs on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that also positively impact epidemic preparedness.ResultsTo address the global changes due to expanding globalization we updated the original indicator of the number of USPTO patents deposited by individual countries per GDP and per capita to the number of international patents applications, related to applicant residence and deposited under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) per GNI (or GDP) and per capita. A comparison of the originally described ranking of top innovative countries to those in the present study revealed new members that updated the list of IDCs and showed a prominent role now played by China.Analyzing scientific publications in international journals since the introduction of the IDC concept in 2005 we found that IDCs do prioritize Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) as an area of research.Finally we investigated the role of IDCs in two major public health emergencies between 2012 and 2016, the outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa and Zika in South America. An analysis of the co-authorship country networks demonstrated an important role for IDC infrastructure and personnel in the prevention and control of these epidemics.Discussion and conclusionsDifferent techniques can be used to evaluate and measure innovative performance of countries. Country rankings published by traditional indexes, such as the Bloomberg Innovation Index (BII) and the Global Innovation Index (GII), only include high income economies among the top 20 performers. This is in sharp contrast to our approach, which identified 8-9 IDCs among the first 25 with China occupying the top position. Through an analysis of the pros and cons of the different methodologies, the IDC concept challenges more conventional approaches to address and estimate the innovative capacity of countries.

The power of patent is expressed when the innovative product or process goes to market, and the exclusive right that patent ensures generates the market power, and the holder possibility to obtain competitive advantage over competitors. Thus, it becomes compelling the discussions on the universities need for transformation of patent applications efforts into granted patents, which could be negotiated with a higher degree of juridical certainty and, consequently, higher value added. To establish an Index of Patents Granting, and understand the importance of Technological Innovation Nuclei for the increase of this index, it was developed a survey on the number of patents granted to Brazilian universities and evaluated the structure of Technological Innovation Nuclei of these universities. From the survey on the granting cases, it was verified that the universities presenting, among other characteristics, better structured Technological Innovation Nuclei stood out.

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