The main objective of ERAWATCH analytical country reports is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The reports support the mutual learning process and the monitoring of Member State.
[EN] Technology ownership and knowledge transfer aim at the dissemination of public research results, usually in one direction – from the university or public research organisation (PRO) that produced the results. However, the complementarities between these types of instruments are not clear compared to the bidirectional channels of knowledge exchange. We analyse one PRO in Spain, a country that is peculiar in terms of infrequent changes to the legislation on science and patents and a predominance of PRO-owned over PRO-invented patents, similar to the situation in the USA but different from that in most EU member states. Against this background, knowledge transfer (measured through PROinvented patents) increases faster than technology ownership (measured through PRO-owned patents). This situation may be damaging to knowledge exchange (measured through PRO co-owned patents). ; Azagra-Caro, JM. (2011). Do public research organisations own most patents invented by their staff?. Science and Public Policy. 38(3):237-250. doi:10.3152/016502611X12849792159272 ; S ; 237 ; 250 ; 38 ; 3
To date, normative studies on the generation of public patents have focused on universities. This paper extends the analysis to public research organisations (PRO). From both a historic and economic standpoint, and via the interpretation of three institutional factors (the change in the political and legal background, the dominance of certain areas of science over others, and the increase in technological cooperation), the reasons moving the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC; the Spanish Research Council) to file patents were examined. The impact of these quantified factors on patenting was examined from 1987 to the present. The institutional framework of bodies such as the CSIC was found to favour a patenting culture. The historical approach adopted defined homogeneous analytical periods and guided the interpretation of the results and their effects over time, while the economic approach allowed some of the relationships seen to be quantified and questioned the validity of merely descriptive classifications (e.g., scientific areas according to number of patents). ; Hasta la fecha los estudios normativos sobre el origen de patentes públicas han estado centrados en las patentes universitarias. Con este artículo extendemos el análisis a las patentes generadas en los organismos públicos de investigación (OPI). Desde una doble perspectiva, la histórica y la económica, y a través de la interpretación de tres factores institucionales (evolución de los cambios políticos y legales, primacía de unas áreas científicas sobre otras y aumento de la cooperación tecnológica) se analiza qué lleva al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) a patentar. Para el último período, desde 1987, hemos cuantificado el impacto de estos factores en las patentes. Hemos concluido que el marco institucional resulta eficaz en un organismo como el CSIC para crear una cultura favorable a la patente. La aproximación histórica define períodos homogéneos de análisis y guía la interpretación de los resultados y sus ...
The main objective of ERAWATCH country reports 2008 is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The reports are produced for each EU Member State to support the mutual learning process.