University patenting and the quest for technology transfer policy models in Europe

Abstract

European universities have gradually taken a more aggressive stance towards IP appropriation. The policies behind these changes have been largely inspired in a linear model of university knowledge transfer and emulations of the US Bayh Dole Act. Our aim in this chapter is to highlight the heterogeneity of university technology transfer across European countries and the differences with respect to US universities, and describe the impact of policy changes, such as the abolition of the professor's privilege, in the light of new data and evidence. We challenge the linear model of university technology transfer and show how complex the relations between the actors involved can be, as well as the role that patents play in those relations.

The impact of the abolishment of the professor’s privilege on European university-owned patents

“…The negative impact of the professor's privilege abolishment on the average technological importance of the academic inventions assigned to universities is thus in line with the findings of Table 7 and may be due to the higher number of lower quality patents that inexperienced German and Austrian universities had to manage during and after the abolishment of the professor's privilege (Martinez and Sterzi, 2019). In turn, the positive impact of the IP reform on the average technological importance of the academic inventions assigned to companies may be due to a mix of factors.…”

“…Mejer (2013) for Belgium (the change applied in 1997 in the Flemish region and in 1998 in the French); for Portugal, Arqué-Castells et al (2016). See also Martinez and Sterzi (2019).…”

The impact of the abolishment of the professor's privilege on European university-owned patents

“…6 Lissoni et al (2013) for Italy; Martinez et al (2013) for Spain; Mejer (2013) for Belgium (the change applied in 1997 in the Flemish region and in 1998 in the French); for Portugal, Arqué-Castells et al (2016). See also Martinez and Sterzi (2019).…”

Science-industry knowledge exchange

“…Many focus on providing those incentives to SMEs, on the condition that they use it to contract services from a certified knowledge provider from a university or PRI. On the regulatory front, most countries have reformed their IP regimes in order to stimulate academic patenting, but the directions and rhythms of these reforms have varied substantially across countries (Martinez and Sterzi, 2018;Weckowska et al, 2018). While most countries have transferred ownership of publicly-funded research results from the state (government) to the (public or private) agent performing the research, where countries (and institutions within countries) differ is in the allocation of ownership among performing agents (research institution vs. individual researcher) (Borowiecki and Paunov, 2018).…”