Presentation prepared for the AESIS webinar on “Measuring the Innovation Output of Science” in the series "Big Data Patterns & Signals for Science" More information at: http://aesisnet.com/event/webinar1017clar/

1. IPRODUCT:
LINKING PRODUCTS TO PATENTS
GAÉTAN DE RASSENFOSSE (@GDERASSE)
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE
WITH HELP FROM DAVID PORTABELLA, COMMONCRAWL, EPFL-SCITAS AND CSCS TEAMS
AESIS WEBINAR ON “MEASURING THE INNOVATION OUTPUT OF SCIENCE”
OCTOBER 24T H 2017
With funding from:

2. WE HAVE FAILED TO STUDY
THE REAL IMPACT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
§ Innovations are intangibles and, hence, difficult to study.
§ Scholars have focused on patents (and scientific publications and
trademarks) as “output” of the innovation process.
§ But these are (i) abstract manifestations of science; (ii) intermediate
innovation output; (iii) not tied to market outcome.
§ As a result, innovation studies have largely failed to study the “real
impact” of innovation. Exceptions exist, such as studies on drug
patents or case studies of particular technologies.
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3. LET’S OBSERVE INVENTIONS AT THE POINT
AT WHICH THEY REACH CONSUMERS
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4. ONE OF THE HOLY GRAILS
OF INNOVATION RESEARCH
§ The project seeks to build a table that links IPR data to product
data. It exploits information provided by companies themselves.
Application GB583257A
Means for safely launching a pilot
or other occupant escaping from
an aeroplane in flight.
Martin-Baker
Ejection Seat for F-35
Physical patent marking
on the seat*
* Not actual correspondence4

5. GOING THROUGH PHYSICALLY MARKED
PRODUCTS IS CUMBERSOME SO WE GO ONLINE
§ We exploit information provided on virtual patent marking section of
companies’ web sites
http://www.logitech.com/assets/64202/logitechvirtualpatentmarkingprogram-111115.pdf
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6. CORE PIECES OF THE IPRODUCT SOFTWARE
The WWW is the raw material
Low-precision/high-recall crawler
Database of potential VPM pages
Classifier to identify true VPM pages
Database of true VPM pages
Information extraction
Database of product-patent pairs
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7. ‘CONSUMER GOODS’ BROADLY DEFINED
FORM THE LARGEST GROUP OF MARKED ITEMS
Medical devices
Consumer goods
Electrical/electronic
manufacturing
Consumer electronics
Sporting goods
BiotechnologyComputer software
Other
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8. A GLIMPSE OF UNIVERSITY IMPACT
• The IPRoduct database provides the last link in the innovation chain.
It can be used to track, e.g., how universities and PROs contribute to
innovation.
• Two main approaches:
1. Patents that are directly used in commercial products
2. Scientific publications (or patents) that are cited in patents
• Let’s illustrate with some concrete examples.
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9. EVIDENCE OF DIRECT USE (1/2)
BIOTECHNOLOGY
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US 9066963 B2 (Derwent Accession Number 2012M16328)
Methods of treating breast cancer with anthracycline therapy
- filed by The University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Washington University,
University Of Utah Research Foundation, British Columbia Cancer Agency Branch
- invented by Charles M. Perou et al., (UNC School of Medicine)
The patent is used in nanoString nCounter® Analysis System.
“NanoString Technologies is a provider of life science tools for translational
research and molecular diagnostics. The company's technology enables a wide
variety of basic research, translational medicine and in vitro diagnostics
applications.”
Source: company website. Product image may not accurately reflect actual product covered by the patent.

10. EVIDENCE OF DIRECT USE (2/2)
SEMICONDUCTORS
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US 5764681 A (Derwent Accession Number 1998347796)
Directional control method and apparatus for ring laser
- filed by Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.
- invented by Joseph M. Ballantyne et al. (Cornell Nanofabrication Facility)
The patent is used by MACOM, among others in its laser chip high packing
density lasers
“MACOM is a new breed of analog semiconductor company. It provides
breakthrough semiconductor technologies for optical, wireless and satellite
networks.”
Source: company website. Product image may not accurately reflect actual product covered by the patent.

11. EVIDENCE OF INDIRECT USE (1/2)
ELECTRONIC MANUFACTURING
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WOS:000276919000008
Kosztyán, Z. (University Pannonia, Hungary), Eppeldauer, G., & Schanda, J.
(2010). Matrix-based color measurement corrections of tristimulus colorimeters.
Applied Optics, 49(12), 2288-2301.
Cited by:
US 9163990 B2
Color measuring device calibration
X-Rite Zwitzerland GmbH for product Ci4100 Benchtop Spectrophotometer
“X-Rite provides a complete suite of services and solutions
to help brands, manufacturers and suppliers select, define
and manage color from design inspiration to final product.”
Source: company website. Product image may not accurately reflect actual product covered by the patent.

12. EVIDENCE OF INDIRECT USE (2/2)
MEDICAL DEVICES
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WOS:000228482900127
Souag, N. (University of S&T Houari Boumediene, Algeria) (Dec. 2004). Three
dimensional reconstruction of the left ventricle based on the Delaunay
Triangulation. In Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Symposium on
Signal Processing and Information Technology (pp. 539–542).
Cited by:
US 7774051 B2
System and method for mapping electrophysiology
information onto complex geometry
St. Jude Medical
for product EnSite Precision™ Cardiac Mapping System
“The EnSite Precision™ cardiac mapping system offers next-generation
technology that allows for a high level of automation, flexibility and precision to
help you more effectively diagnose a wide range of arrhythmias.”
Source: company website. Product image may not accurately reflect actual product covered by the patent.

13. TAKEAWAYS
• Patents and publications are commonly used to assess “impact”.
• But such metrics are imperfect and certainly do not reflect the real
impact of science.
• University administrators and TTO officers should strive to collect
product-based data (and other similar data) to document research
relevance.
• The IPRoduct database will help in this task. Data will be made
available in open access upon completion of the project.
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14. http://www.iproduct.io