How to effectively communicate university patents: a framework based on signalling theory

ABSTRACT

University patents are a critical tool for firms seeking to gain information from universities. However, the potential of this tool is frequently constrained by ineffective communication and commercialisation strategies. University patents must be successfully advertised and disseminated to third parties to have an impact outside academia. In this scenario, inventors, universities, and technology transfer offices (TTOs) (which manage their patent portfolios) are encouraged to increase their efforts to promote and communicate patents. This article uses signalling theory to examine the key features of university patents that influence the investment or acquisition decisions of entrepreneurs and investors. Our findings can help TTOs, inventors, and universities strengthen their patent communication and commercialisation strategies, and also help third parties secure more successful university patents.

KEYWORDS:

• Patents
• universities
• technology transfer offices
• knowledge transfer
• inventors
• market

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all the experts who participated in this research and shared their experience. We also would like to thank the organizing team and the participants of the IFKAD conference for their useful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Knowledgeshare is an online platform (https://www.knowledge-share.eu/) launched in 2019 by Netval, MiSE-UIBM and Polytechnic of Turin that Knowledge Share is an IP platform that facilitates the interaction between university TTOs, academic researchers and industry partners, by providing a portal that enables users to easily access information related to patents and technologies.

2. Considering for example the Italian context, based on the latest reports (see among other Netval report, 2021), which show the trend of patents for each year, over 7,800 patents are held in portfolios by Italian universities (with an increase of over 40% on the previous survey).

3. An example in this sense is represented by the marketing presentations requested by the platform “Knowledge Share” platform.