Innovation from non-industrial sources

Abstract

Eight thousand therapeutic patent documents originating from non-industrial institutions, published during the past five years, were analysed. Innovation in this sector was found to be dominated by US-based entities, principally the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of California; the only non-US applicants featuring in the top-20 were INSERM of France and the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC). Patenting levels are increasing steadily, but direct government involvement in obtaining intellectual property rights may now be declining. Neoplasm and infection followed by neurological and cardiovascular disorders, as in the industrial sector, are the principal targets for this sector, although with some differences of emphasis. The University of California’s patenting is analysed in detail, in order to exemplify the analytical techniques which have been applied to these data.

• analytical techniques
• infection
• innovation
• intellectual property rights
• neoplasm
• non-industrial institutions
• University of California
• US NIH
• US-based entities