Intellectual Asset Management in research commercialization projects: A case study in a Finnish Technology Transfer Office
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Bisso Mifflin, Sebastian
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The more obvious functions of research universities are to contribute to the expansion of
scientific knowledge and the education of students, however, in recent decades, research
universities are expected to play an increasingly important role in promoting the societal impact
of research results. One of the ways to promote the societal impact of research results is to
commercialize them by a virtue of licensing or selling the intellectual property rights (IPR) of
the research results, or by building a spinout company around them. Technology Transfer
Offices (TTOs) are generally responsible for evaluating and capturing the research results, and
the organizations function as a supporting role in university-industry collaborations, as well as
in developing business cases around the results. To fully open all the doors to the utilization of
research results and to unlock the full value of such assets, the research results should be
effectively claimed and managed as intellectual assets by the TTOs and innovation offices. The
problem is that the TTOs, as part of the academic environments, are often under-resourced and
follow processes which can be viewed as narrow in the context of intellectual assets
management activities.
This study investigates how the University of Helsinki TTO approaches the claiming of
research results as intellectual assets so that the societal value potential could be utilized most
effectively. The study was conducted as a single case study of a Finnish Technology Transfer
Office by qualitatively analyzing data gathered through semi-structured interviews and by
analyzing organizational documents. The findings show that the environment under
examination has processes which are aimed to claim and manage research results, particularly
in the context of patented inventions, which also highlights that the general IPR strategy
considerations of the TTO are also strongly focused on patenting and activities related to
patenting. In relation to the CIP intellectual asset management (IAM) framework which is
directed to enable effective utilization of research results, the TTO information-gathering
activities are largely in accordance, however, the organization uses less-comprehensive
categories for intellectual assets (IAs), and the information-gathering activities which specify
the scientific value and the utility of the IAs are not as extensive as in the framework. Moreover,
when assessing the control value of IAs, the TTO is emphasizing the patent-related control
aspects due to the legislation governing the ownership of research results and the policies in
relation to the management of non-patentable research results, which are being developed. The
conclusion is that the organization places patent-based control strategies at the center of
commercialization activities, which is reflected in the way the TTO gathers the needed
information for capturing the research results. Moreover, the process for claiming IA’s is
largely in accordance with the framework, but due to the strong focus on patenting, the process
could be expanded by following the value specifying steps of the IAM framework to enable
wider opportunities for research-driven societal impact.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Research Utilization , Commercialization , Academic Entrepreneurship , Technology Transfer , Intellectual Assets , Intellectual Property Rights , Intellectual Asset Management , IP management