Release the Powerful Kinetic Energy of Patent Transformation (Intellectual Property News)

-Interpretation of "Special Action Plan for Patent Transformation and Application (2023-2025)" Series ①

Innovation is the first driving force for development. By September, 2023, there were 4.805 million effective invention patents in China, and the status of intellectual property power was firmly established. Not long ago, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Special Action Plan for Patent Transformation and Application (2023-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), demanding that efforts be made to break through the key blocking points of patent transformation and application, and effectively turn the advantages of the patent system into powerful kinetic energy for innovation and development.

"The patent system is an innovative incentive mechanism that enables the innovation subject to recover the pre-research and development costs by giving the technical solution the exclusive right to use it. Patent industrialization is a process of transforming innovation into productivity, which contributes to the realization of patent production value and economic value. Therefore, the patent system is industry-oriented, and only in the process of industrialization can the incentive effect of the patent system be maximized. " Yi Jiming, director of Peking University International Intellectual Property Research Center, said in an interview with China Intellectual Property News that this is also the key to promoting the industrialization of a number of high-value patents proposed in the "Program".

Revitalize the existing patents in colleges and universities

Universities and scientific research institutions have a large number of patents. As of September 2023, the total number of effective invention patents owned by universities and scientific research institutions in China accounted for 25.3% of the total number of effective invention patents in China, more than a quarter. On the contrary, there is still much room for improvement in the industrialization rate of their patents. According to the Patent Investigation Report of China in 2022, in 2022, the effective patent industrialization rates of universities and scientific research units were 3.5% and 14.3% respectively. How to revitalize its existing patents and solve the problems of "unwilling to transfer", "unable to transfer" and "afraid to transfer"?

"For many colleges and universities, it is necessary to consider the issue of maintaining and increasing the value of patents. This leads to the need to go through layers of examination and approval for patent transformation, which delays the entry of products into the market and makes everyone afraid to transform patents easily. The "Proposal" lists the solution in this regard and is a "relaxation" of colleges and universities. " Wu Changzheng, director of the Office of Transfer and Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements of China University of Science and Technology, said.

The "Proposal" clearly explores a new management model for the transformation of post scientific and technological achievements in universities and scientific research institutions, improves the due diligence exemption and fault-tolerance mechanism for patent transformation, and implements the overall assessment of the preservation and appreciation of state-owned shares formed by the pricing of patents and other scientific and technological achievements by year, types and stages, instead of individual case assessment. "The overall assessment method shares the risks brought by market operation to a certain extent, so that more colleges and universities dare to carry out patent transformation by means of pricing shares." Wu Changzheng said.

How to find a matching industrialization project for a patent? The "Proposal" proposes that universities and scientific research institutions organize the screening of patents with potential market value, and rely on the national intellectual property operation service platform system for unified online registration and warehousing; Effectively use new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to match and push enterprises according to industrial segmentation areas, and promote the docking of supply and demand. Based on enterprises’ feedback on patent industrialization prospect evaluation, patent technology improvement demand and Industry-University-Research’s willingness to cooperate, the potential of existing patent industrialization is identified, and a convertible patent resource database is constructed in layers.

"Patents are an important carrier for the transformation of innovative resources into market elements. Sorting out and revitalizing existing patents solves the problem of where patents come from." Xiao Youdan, director and researcher of the Institute of Science and Technology Development Strategy, Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting, China Academy of Sciences, said that from the requirements of "Strive to achieve full coverage of untranslated effective patents in universities and scientific research institutions by the end of 2025", it can be seen that this policy will cover more untranslated patents. At the same time, the "Proposal" puts forward specific measures such as screening and registration, matching and pushing, and layered warehousing, which is expected to further clarify the "family background" of patents and promote efficient transformation.

Promote strong industrial chain and increase efficiency.

As the receiving end of patents, enterprises determine the final effect of patent industrialization.

The "Proposal" puts the focus and foothold of patent transformation and application on serving the real economy, and proposes to promote the strong chain of intellectual property rights in key industries to increase efficiency, cultivate high-value patent portfolios, build and operate patent pools in key industries, and stimulate the innovation vitality and transformation power of various subjects. At the same time, give full play to the advantages of China’s ultra-large-scale market, provide fertile soil for the application of new technologies and the development of new formats, encourage the exploration of patent open source in frontier technology fields such as future industries, and expand the scale and benefits of patent industrialization.

"The quality of patents directly affects its market value, and it is also the most concerned issue in our transformation and application." Zhang Yongqiang, head of intellectual property of Suzhou Minxin Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., said that many measures proposed in the Plan have important reference significance for the development of enterprises, such as cultivating and discovering a number of high-value patent portfolios that make up for the shortcomings of common technologies and have industry-leading advantages by focusing on enterprises in key industries and cooperating with various major innovation platforms, which is expected to help enterprises obtain more high-quality patents and obtain higher market returns.

"The realization of patent value requires the smooth flow of the whole industrial chain of’ technology research and development-achievement transformation-product application’, as well as the coordination among research and development subjects, production subjects, government departments and other service subjects. On the basis of unblocking the patent transformation chain, the "Proposal" should pay more attention to the cultivation of value increment and the strengthening of industrial chain, so as to realize the leap from value to more, from more to more refined, and from scratch to stronger industrial chain. " Yi Jiming said, specifically, China should further explore the technical value in key industries with high degree of patent industrialization, and transform the technological leading edge into international competitive advantage in a timely and efficient manner; At the same time, on the basis of respecting the choice of market players, we will guide key industries to further promote the implementation of patents, expand the scope of industrial transformation of patented technology, and reduce the transaction cost of technology, so as to fully release the patent value.

The "Proposal" requires that by 2025, the turnover of technology contracts involving patents nationwide will reach 800 billion yuan, and the output value of patent-intensive products registered and recognized will exceed one trillion yuan. In the next two years, this innovation and development momentum brought by patents will accelerate agglomeration. (Reporter CoCo WU)