The document summarizes developments in patent activity and innovation globally. It discusses rising patent applications in Asia, particularly China and India. While Asia saw the largest growth, the US and Europe are also expected to see reforms that further harmonize international patent systems. The article also profiles the winners of the 2011 European Inventor Awards, highlighting innovations in strengthening concrete, burning biomass fuels, identifying Alzheimer's genes, implanting teeth, and disinfecting water for developing countries.

1. ENGINEERING
THE FUTURE
FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Friday May 20 2011
www.ft.com/engineering­future­may2011 | twitter.com/ftreports
Patent proof of rising innovation Inside this issue
European
Inventor
Awards
The awards
(SME
Asia has made strides, year. First, Italy and Spain category
restated their political opposi- winner
but progress is uneven tion to the language rules for Jens Dall
in the campaign to the proposed unitary EU patent, Bentzen is pictured, above)
which they said would unfairly are a riposte to those who
protect inventions, favour English, French and Ger- regard the creation and
writes Clive Cookson man. protection of intellectual
Then, more fundamentally, property as boring Page 2
P
atents are back in fash- the European Court of Justice
ion. The World Intellec- said an essential ingredient in Award winners Fate has
tual Property Organisa- the unitary system – enabling a smiled on dental innovator
tion (Wipo) and the new European Patent Court Per­Ingvar Brånemark; gene
European and US patent offices instead of national courts to pioneer Christine Van
all reported a big increase in rule on the validity of European
Broeckhoven has had to
applications in 2010, after a patents – was incompatible with
fight her corner; Ashok
decline in 2009 related to the existing EU law.
economic downturn, and they But Mr Battistelli refuses to
Gadgil and Vikas Garud are
expect to receive another record be discouraged. “I see the glass bringing clean water to the
number of filings this year. as half-full, not half-empty,” he world’s poorest; Ann
The growth should be good says. “I am still optimistic that Lambrechts gives concrete
news for the long-term future of it will be possible to introduce a makeover Page 2
the global economy, given the the unitary patent by the end of
vital role that patents play in this year.” Clean tech
industrial innovation – handing This could be a momentous patents
inventors the incentive to com- year in the US too. The long A new way
mercialise a product or process, process of reforming the Ameri- to search
by granting a 20-year monopoly can patent system and bringing for patents
in exchange for full disclosure it more into line with the rest will help
of the invention’s technical of the world is expected to come policy­
details. to fruition, with Congress makers
But the increase in patent poised to pass legislation with choose the best ideas
activity is far from evenly dis- support from both political Page 3
tributed around the world. No parties and the Obama adminis-
one who has followed the tration.
China Beijing is looking to
extraordinary rise in research The Patent Reform Act of 2011
the nation to roll up its
and development spending in would simplify and streamline
Asia recently will be surprised the US system in many ways.
sleeves and surpass the
to learn that the most spectacu- Most importantly for interna- west on innovation Page 4
lar growth in patenting is tak- tional harmonisation, it would
ing place there, too. Wheels of invention: modern patents have their origins in the Italy of Leonardo da Vinci Alamy replace the current “first to US Little seems to stand in
The total volume of applica- invent” rule with the “first to the way of the most
tions under the international out Renaissance Europe. An erty, which came into force in the Patent Co-operation Treaty, As Benoît Battistelli, EPO file” criterion used in the rest of significant patents overhaul
Patent Co-operation Treaty rose internationally co-ordinated pat- 1884 to give protection beyond which provides a more system- president, says, “a patent holder the world. The date of filing is since 1952 Page 4
5.7 per cent in 2010 to reach ent system began to emerge in the country where an invention atic way to obtain international choosing to have Europe-wide far more clear-cut than the date
164,300, says Wipo, but those the late 19th century. was originally patented. protection than the old Paris protection ends up with a bun- of invention, which may be hard Europe
originating in China and India The key moment, according to Although the Paris Conven- Convention, with less duplica- dle of 40 European patents cov- to pin down when there are The EPO
increased by 55.6 per cent and Wipo, came in 1873, when for- tion still provides the bedrock of tion of effort. ering territories speaking 29 lan- competing claims. (Benoît
36.6 per cent respectively. eign exhibitors refused to attend cross-border protection and Meanwhile, also in the 1970s, guages and subject to 40 court However, even without big Battistelli,
Indeed, Asia became the big- the International Exhibition of mutual recognition of patents, it Europe took a big step towards jurisdictions . . . It is much more set-piece advances such as the president,
gest filing region for the first Inventions in Vienna because has been supplemented over the regional unification of patents difficult and costly for European US reform legislation, technical right) has
time, followed by North Amer- they were afraid their ideas past century by several other through the creation of the entities to protect their innova- progress to harmonise the inter- linked with
ica and then Europe. would be stolen and exploited international agreements. European Patent Office in tions in their home market than national patent system and Google to
Historians place the origins of commercially in other countries. Most important was the estab- Munich. But the dreams of the for their main competitors.” make life easier for inventors is iron out translation issues
modern patents in 15th-century Subsequent negotiations led lishment in the 1970s of Wipo EPO’s founders that this would The long drive to introduce a going well.
Page 4
Italy, and patent laws in some to the Paris Convention for the under the auspices of the United lead to a single European patent single European Union patent
form were introduced through- Protection of Industrial Prop- Natioins in Geneva, followed by remain tantalisingly unfulfilled. suffered two new setbacks this Continued on Page 3

2. 2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES FRIDAY MAY 20 2011
Engineering the Future | European Inventor Awards
Developments that make a difference
Jens Dall Bentzen won the
Background SME category of this year’s
awards for his biomass
Clive Cookson sets the furnaces
scene as this year’s five countries), including 18 EPO patents.
winners are announced Nobel Biocare, the implant company
founded on Mr Brånemark’s work,
had revenues of €576m and pre-tax
T
he European Inventor Awards profits of €100m last year. Though his
are a very visible riposte to original patents have long expired, it
those who regard the creation still holds an estimated 21 per cent of
and protection of intellectual the growing global market for dental
property as a boring, specialist activ- implants and is regarded as a technol-
ity of little interest to the general pub- ogy leader. The whole field of tita-
lic. nium implants has around 100 patent
Established by the European Patent applications per year.
Office in 2006, they aim to “give a Although inventing and patenting
face” to patents by honouring individ- have traditionally been seen as male
ual innovators with a prestigious activities, the female presence is
prize, while raising awareness of the growing. This year two of the five
role of patents in promoting eco- award winners are women, both coin-
nomic, social and technological cidentally from Belgium.
progress. Ann Lambrechts of Bekaert, the
The 15 finalists and five winners Belgian building materials company,
this year highlight a range of appeal- took the industry prize. She has given
ing developments that have made a a new look to the urban landscape
difference to the lives of people with her Dramix steel fibres, which
around the world – and in the process increase the tensile strength of con-
made money for their inventors. crete. This enables architects to
The winning innovations, design spectacular new structures,
announced in Budapest, Hungary, such as the CCTV headquarters in
yesterday involve strengthening con- Beijing, which would not have been
crete (in the industry category), burn- possible with the previous generation
ing biofuels (SMEs), identifying Alzhe- of steel-reinforced concrete.
imer’s genes (research), implanting Christine Van Broeckhoven of the
teeth (lifetime achievement) and dis- Flanders Institute for Biotechnology
infecting water (non-European). Four is a pioneer of research into the genes
are profiled in separate articles below. and proteins that cause Alzheimer’s
The awards attracted 170 entries disease, with 12 patents dating back
this year, proposed both by members to 1991. “We had lots of discussions on
of the public and by specialist patent the relevance of patenting, who owns
examiners at the EPO and national ents, typically filed between five and burn biomass containing up to 60 per As the Technopolis analysis points Most other shortlisted and winning it, whether it would be for the benefit
patent offices. These were whittled 15 years ago, so that a long enough cent moisture, without having to dry out, Mr Bentzen stands out in the inventors have broadly similar tales of society,” she recalls, “but in the
down on the basis of legal and techni- period has elapsed to judge their com- it out first. biomass furnace industry, where the to tell, even if they work in quite end, patents are the vehicle which
cal criteria to a longlist of 30 entries mercial potential. Having run a successful 2MW pilot level of patenting and innovation is different industries – though of course attracts money.”
that was put to a high-profile interna- For example, Jens Dall Bentzen, the plant, Mr Bentzen’s company Dall generally low. He gives several rea- those in the lifetime achievement cat- Alzheimer’s is so complex that there
tional jury headed by Jerzy Buzek, Danish engineer who won the SME Energy has completed this month an sons for patenting. Besides the univer- egory have a much longer record. are still no drugs or even diagnostic
president of the European Parliament category of this year’s awards, has 8MW plant to demonstrate the tech- sal function of patents in protecting Per-Ingvar Brånemark, the winner, tests on the market for the degenera-
and former prime minister of Poland. applied since 2000 for five patents for nology on a commercial scale, for inventions and keeping competitors at filed his first patent for titanium- tive brain disease – but when they do
The selection process included a biomass furnaces that greatly extend Bogense District Heating Company on a distance, they are a valuable part of based dental implants in 1968, nine emerge, Dr Van Broeckhoven’s
thorough economic analysis of each the range of fuels that can be burnt, the island of Funen, Denmark. Market a branding strategy, to indicate an years before EPO came into existence. research is likely to play a role in
proposal by Technopolis, a European while reducing associated pollution analysis suggests a total demand in innovative business to potential cus- Since then he has generated 57 patent their commercialisation. In biomedi-
research consultancy. Most of the and increasing energy efficiency. Europe for 275 such plants per year, tomers, and they help persuade inves- “families” (patents based on the same cine, patents can take a very long
entries rely on small groups of pat- In particular his power plant can with a total value of €370m. tors to fund a new company. invention but applied for in different time to make an impact.
Bringing clean water to the world’s poorest people Concrete gets a
Non­European award
Ashok Gadgil
colleague in India – a low-cost
device that destroys infectious
agents in water that cause
cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis
organism non-viable.
“It’s like a jammed zipper,”
explains Mr Gadgil. “DNA has
two strands and [these] have to
Its low energy consumption
means that, with the aid of a
car battery or solar panel, it is
suitable for communities
teased me, calling it a stainless
steel coffin, because it was
about that size,” he says.
When the team tested it in
wiry makeover
and dysentery. be unzipped for replication. If without access to grid power. Uttar Pradesh, India, the
What Ashok Gadgil learnt Water purification was not they get jammed, the And compared with feedback was that people constructed using Ms
when working on a low-cost originally Mr Gadgil’s area of organisms can’t multiply and traditional purification wanted something much Industry Lambrechts’ steel wire
water purification device is expertise, although he had so are unable to cause disease.” methods, the system uses a smaller, lighter, more compact Ann Lambrechts elements.
that successful innovation is been gathering data about use Ultraviolet light purification tiny amount of energy. “When and cheaper. “That was one of The building was made from
about more than science and of light for disinfection for systems did exist. However, you boil water, you have to the lessons for me,” says Dr six horizontal and vertical
technology – particularly when some years. Then in 1993, a these were expensive because raise the temperature of all the Gadgil. “You have to pay For the most used man-made sections that form a continuous
designing products for some of disastrous cholera epidemic they required complex pumping water and most of the attention to what users want.” product on earth, concrete loop covering 473,000 sq m of
the world’s poorest people. broke out in India and spread systems and, since they were molecules are harmless,” says The device now weighs just commands a low profile among floor space. The structure, which
“It requires going outside to Bangladesh and Thailand. used underwater, needed Mr Gadgil. “Here, you use 15lb and, after WaterHealth the world’s inventive elite. locals have said resembles a
your comfort zone and area of “Some 10,000 people died in one frequent cleaning. extremely small amounts of International licensed the Discovering innovative large pair of boxer shorts, was
expertise, and takes a lot of month,” he says. “So this Instead Dr Gadgil and Dr energy because all you’re technology, Dr Gadgil and Dr solutions on how to improve possible only because of the
collaboration,” says Mr Gadgil, caused me to take note.” Garud designed a lamp that is destroying is the DNA.” Garud helped the India-based the grey building material high tensile strength that Ms
director of the environmental The purification technique he placed above water tanks. The However, Dr Gadgil admits company refine the product for lacks the allure of medical Lambrechts’ steel elements gave
energy technologies division at developed works in a way that system uses gravity and he made mistakes before use in developing countries. science or the possible riches of the concrete.
the Lawrence Berkeley is relatively simple. Ultraviolet hydraulics to generate a getting the technology right. By 2010, the systems were technology. It sits, instead, in However, as well as enabling
National Laboratory, California. light of a particular wavelength pump-free flow of water, Initially, for example, the units bringing affordable clean water the pantheon of essential but high-profile buildings, the steel
Mr Gadgil, who also teaches transmits easily though water making it extremely energy- were extremely large, made of to more than 2m people in unglamorous everyday wires have also become a
at University of California, and is readily absorbed by efficient – a 40W ultraviolet stainless steel and designed to more than 10 countries. products. feature of mass-market
Berkeley, has developed – with DNA. In the process, the DNA light bulb can disinfect handle a flow of up to 50 litres “Concrete is everywhere and concrete use.
the help of Vikas Garud, a is modified, making the 1,000 litres of water per hour. per minute. “My colleague Sarah Murray we are talking about “You need to develop a
reinforcing it in a more market gradually but now the
efficient way,” says Ann steel fibres are used in one in
Fate smiled on Lambrechts, a nominee for this
year’s Engineering the Future
awards.
Ms Lambrechts’ innovative
every three concrete floors in
Europe,” Ms Lambrechts says.
When she first came up with
the idea for the hooked and
dental innovator steel fibres are used to boost
the tensile strength of concrete
structures and are, pound for
pound, 32 per cent stronger
flattened wires in 1998, Ms
Lambrechts and her team at
Bekaert, the Belgian building
materials group, used X-ray
than the traditional machines to observe how the
His scientific discoveries construction method of using wires and concrete reacted
Lifetime achievement were commercialised by a steel mesh or reinforcing bars, under different stresses.
Per­Ingvar company called Nobelpharma, or rebars. Ms Lambrechts adds that the
now Nobel Biocare, which The pieces of wire, 55mm in idea of using fibres to give
Brånemark today commands about 35 per length, are slightly hooked at added strength to a wet
cent of the global dental Clockwise from left: the ends and flattened in the building material can be traced
Millions of patients around the implant market. Per­Ingvar Brånemark middle. The unusual shape back as far as the 19th century,
world have benefited from the Mr Brånemark has spent the (Lifetime achievement); means that when the concrete when builders began using
scientific breakthroughs made past three decades working Christine Van Broeckhoven sets it is anchored to each horsehair to strengthen plaster.
by Per-Ingvar Brånemark, the with surgeons in more than 100 (Research); Ann Lambrechts individual piece of wire, The move to use smaller
Swedish orthopaedic surgeon. hospitals around the world (Industry) and Ashok Gadgil strengthening the core and wires in the concrete mix,
Yet his innovations in the promoting his techniques. (Non­European countries) giving more resistance to rather that mesh and rebars,
field of dental implants and Now 82, he is no longer as movement than rebars or has also improved on-site
prosthetic technology might active in the surgery room but mesh. safety for builders.
never have happened without a continues developing his ideas, This change in design has The wires can be poured into
twist of fate when applying for together with his son, Rickard, opened up possibilities for the wet concrete and the mix
university. who is focused on advancing using concrete in a new kind of is then sprayed by robots into
Mr Brånemark put his name the use of titanium fixtures in architecture, where large-scale foundation piles, tunnel walls
forward for undergraduate prosthetic arms and legs. buildings with intricate designs and floors.
courses in medicine and Mr Brånemark highlights the can be fashioned from the rigid In dismantling old buildings,
engineering with no clear idea case of a Finnish student who material, where in the past the wires are also easier to
which field he would rather had two artificial limbs fused steel, or another easy-to- salvage from crushed concrete
pursue. into her femur bones after manipulate material, would be than meshes and reinforcing
The medical school at Lund losing her legs in a collision used. China Central bars.
University was first to respond with a tram. The technology Television’s headquarters, the
with a firm offer and that was has allowed her to resume an 44-storey, 234m skyscraper, was Ed Hammond
enough for Mr Brånemark to almost normal life and to feel
commit his future to medical some of the sensations of
science. “If the engineering
department had been quicker I
would probably have become
walking – such as the different
feelings of a soft carpet and a
hard floor.
Gene pioneer who had to fight corner for her sex
an engineer,” he says. Looking back over his career,
Instead, Mr Brånemark went Mr Brånemark says his most Ms Van Broeckhoven, patients with Down’s syndrome run a very family-friendly before could they understand
on to become a pioneer in the important quality has been Research director of the department of and Alzheimer’s, she focused environment with a lot of and estimate the benefits.”
development of titanium patience. It took 10 years from Christine Van molecular genetics at the on chromosome 21, identifying flexibility.” Ms Van Broeckhoven
implants that can be the first use of his technique University of Antwerp, part of a mutation causing proteins to She was briefly a member of recognises the importance of
permanently anchored in on a human dental patient in Broeckhoven VIB, the Flanders-based life aggregate in the brain tissue; the Belgian parliament, patents to incentivise corporate
human bone – overcoming the 1965 to build enough evidence sciences research institution, and then highlighting the agreeing so that she could research, while stressing the
body’s usual rejection of to publish his findings. studied for a doctorate in importance of progranulin as a work on “the greying of importance of limiting
foreign objects. One of the biggest challenges, Christine Van Broeckhoven has molecular biology. She was common gene causing society”, drawing up a commercial secrecy to
His work has paved the way he says, has been persuading dabbled in business and initially interested in metabolic neurodegeneration. dementia plan. Having stimulate academics to co-
for dental implants to replace surgeons to ditch what he calls politics, but always for short diseases, but breakthroughs in Looking back on her career, achieved her policy and learnt operate fully. She remains
damaged teeth – transforming the aggressive “saw bone” style periods in the service of her the early 1980s in genetics and during which she has how to lobby ministers – “you cautious on the rapid
the lives of patients who would of some orthopaedic surgeons long-term passion and greatest the link with neurology accumulated awards including have to give them something emergence of Alzheimer’s
previously have required in favour of a more sensitive contribution: scientific motivated her to switch tack. the American Academy of they can use directly for their drugs, with recent clinical-trial
removable dentures – and a approach to bone tissue. research. “It was a pioneering time,” Neurology’s Potamkin Prize, own benefit to be re-elected” – disappointments.
range of bone-anchored But his main advice applies A pioneer in genetics, she she recalls. “Instruments were she recognises the challenge she returned to research. “You can feel companies are
prosthetic applications. equally to all medical has received a number of becoming available to for women in science. “It was She has also worked for two reducing their investments,”
“I started looking into micro scientists: never lose sight of European patents for her work manipulate DNA in a test tube, considered a male thing. I was pharmaceutical companies over she says. “There is a feeling –
circulation in bone tissue and how much is still not on neurodegenerative brain and work began on examining protected in the beginning the years, with mixed feelings. not completely incorrect – that
bone marrow to understand understood about the human diseases including Alzheimer’s, genetic markers in humans. because I didn’t realise that. I “I was surprised that the neurodegenerative process
what happens inside a bone body. “We should never start some of which have been taken People then were convinced wanted to study, and was everything went so slowly, is too complicated for us to
when you drill into it,” he believing we know better than up by pharmaceutical that senility was just due to supported by my parents. with so much bureaucracy. It understand. There is not
recalls. “My feeling was that mother nature,” he says. “We companies seeking to develop the ageing process. There was “Only later when I was was a bit of a disappointment, enough investment in trying to
you have to treat bone not as a need to have some humility.” innovative medicines in an no belief in Alzheimer’s as a confronted by science policy although it was a pioneering understand a normal brain.”
piece of wood but as a living important but frustratingly disease.” did I realise that I had to fight. time in genetics when
part of the human being.” Andrew Ward slow-moving field. Studying parallels between But I’m a very good fighter. I companies were investing Andrew Jack

3. FINANCIAL TIMES FRIDAY MAY 20 2011 ★ † 3
Engineering the Future
Information helps
clear the air on
renewables policy
what are the technologies signing of the Kyoto proto-
Clean technologies that are patented within col in 1997, there was a
this context?” surge of patenting of renew-
Patent classification Until the launch of the able energy inventions.
will help politicians classification, such ques- “The political decisions that
make right choices, tions were impossible to
answer. “Part of the prob-
create frameworks that ena-
ble long-term investment
says Sarah Murray lem was that, as these pat- make a huge difference,”
ents were recorded, they says Mr Karachalios.
weren’t tagged in terminol- Governments have cer- Turning power: after the signing of the Kyoto protocol in 1997, there was a surge in renewable energy patents Charlie Bibby
B
y 2050, renewables ogy that was relevant from tainly recognised the impor-
could meet almost a clean-energy perspective,” tance of supporting the pat- but where governments researching into clean tech little resistance to licensing. entific capacity to develop be bottlenecks, where they
80 per cent of glo- explains Benjamin Sim- ent filing process. As part of have got into difficulty is in and lots of patents are Some 70 per cent of the technologies. could export technologies,”
bal energy demand, mons, head of the trade, the US government’s stimu- which [clean technologies] being granted,” he says. respondents said they Mr Karachalios argues he says.
if supported by appropriate policy and planning unit in lus package, for example, to back and whether any of “But the big issue is how to would be prepared to be that, without readily availa- “All these questions are
public policies, said the the economics and trade the commerce department’s them lead to actual pay- get the flow of capital to more flexible when licens- ble, searchable information, very important.”
Intergovernmental Panel on branch of the UN Environ- patent and trademark office back,” says Jonathan take those ideas to proto- ing to developing countries policymakers cannot make And while the new classi-
Climate Change in a report ment Programme (UNEP). introduced a pilot pro- Johns, director of Climate type, then to demonstration with limited ability to pay decisions on where to fication means it is now
released last month. Traditionally, says Mr gramme to accelerate the Change Matters, a UK-based and then to commercialisa- high prices. invest to address these bar- easier to identify clean-tech
To design those policies, Simmons, tracking down all review of “green” technol- consultancy. tion.” Yet the report found that riers. patents, this does not mean
however, policymakers the patents filed for a par- ogy patent applications. Mr Johns argues that the A further issue, particu- willingness to out-license “Governments need to it is possible to tell which of
need access to relevant ticular technology in the And in the UK, the govern- filing of patents is only one larly for developing coun- was not reflected in actual know worldwide who is those patents have been
information on clean tech- clean-tech field would have ment recently introduced a part of the process of pro- tries, is how easy it is to volumes of licensing. Other developing these technolo- developed and are making
nology innovations. The taken a specialised lawyer preferential rate on income moting technologies that obtain licences for new barriers emerged, such as gies, what national entities it to market. This, says Mr
launch of a new classifica- six to nine months. “Now from patents. contribute to a low-carbon technologies and how much transaction costs, the diffi- are developing these tech- Simmons, is the next step
tion scheme for clean-tech someone can conduct the “There are various poli- economy. “Yes, a lot of uni- they cost. The report found culty of identifying a suita- nologies, where are the cor- in filling the information
patents therefore represents search in a matter of min- cies that governments use versities in the west are that there was surprisingly ble partner and lack of sci- porations, where there may gap.
a big step forward. utes,” he says.
Until the launch of the The database was devel-
classification scheme – oped as part of a joint
which facilitates online research project conducted
searches of patents data- by the EPO, the UNEP and
bases – global climate the International Centre for
change debates were ham- Trade and Sustainable
pered by a serious obstacle: Development. It resulted in
the inability to distinguish the report “Patents and
clean-tech innovations from clean energy: bridging the
the millions of patents gap between evidence and
being filed every year. policy”.
“For us the question was With intellectual property
whether it would be possi- rights recently emerging as
ble to produce data to a particularly contentious
inform the political negotia- issue in climate change
tion process so we can con- debates (some countries
centrate on the real prob- argue that related technolo-
lems,” says Konstantinos gies should be royalty-free
Karachalios, public policy since they are in the public
specialist at the European good), the report set out to
Patents Office and leader of look at the role of patents
the EPO’s work on the data- in the transfer of climate
base. “If you talk about change mitigation technolo-
smart grids, for instance, gies.
what is a smart grid? And It found that after the
Patent proof of
rising innovation
Continued from Page 1 input, rather than the out-
put.”
For example the so-called The real value of patents
IP5 group – representing lies in the extent to which a
the European, US, Japa- company can commercialise
nese, Chinese and Korean them to develop new busi-
intellectual property offices, ness. At worst, Mr Zentner
which handle 90 per cent of says, “patenting can be a
the world’s patents – is run- time-wasting distraction
ning 10 projects to reconcile and a hurdle to business
their procedures, from the success.”
way patents are classified Sometimes a company
to the format required for sees trade secrecy as an
applications. alternative to patenting.
All this is likely to drive But Mr Battistelli says this
further increases in patent- may be misguided. “It is as
ing. But, as Mr Battistelli complicated to organise
says, an efficient and grow- secrecy as to apply for a
ing patent system “is not a patent,” he says. “In fact, it
goal in itself, it is an eco- can be more difficult to
nomic tool to promote inno- enforce secrecy right
vation”. That requires pat- through the company, its
suppliers and contacts, than
Intellectual to patent.”
property is a Ideological opposition to
means to an the patent system seems to
end: business be declining, although
growth, says many people still believe
Larry Zentner the scope of patents is too
broad. The most conten-
tious area is in the life sci-
ent offices to do more work ences, as to whether biolog-
disseminating the techno- ical constructs such as
logical information con- genes, life forms and stem
tained in applications. cells can be patented. In
Equally, for the inventor, general, Europe has taken a
obtaining a patent is just more restrictive line on
the start of the exploitation such questions than the US.
process. Patents are some- For Mr Battistelli, how-
times treated by analysts of ever, the most important
the innovation process as issue is “patent quality” –
an “output” of research and making sure that patents
development spending – the meet all the legal criteria,
industrial equivalent of the such as inventiveness,
scientific papers and cita- before they are granted.
tions produced by academic Only 42 per cent of appli-
researchers. cants to EPO end up with
“Intellectual property is a valid patents (and in bio-
means to an end: business technology the granting
growth,” says Larry Zent- rate is just 28 per cent).
ner, founding director of If the world’s patent
Inzenka, the UK-based man- offices can ensure quality,
agement consultancy. growth in activity is almost
“In other words, it is an guaranteed.
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