ProTon Europe, the pan-European network of national knowledge transfer associations and companies affiliated to universities and other public research organisations, has announced the results of its 2009 Survey. The Survey, the largest knowledge transfer survey in Europe, refers to the fiscal year 2008 and demonstrates a significant increase in knowledge transfer activities in European universities. 

A total of 305 European Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs), including NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, from 10 European countries, took part in the 2009 Survey.  

Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD and incoming Chair, ProTon Europe

A key finding of the 2009 Survey was that a total of 5,841 inventions were disclosed to European KTOs in 2008, an increase of 30.5% compared to the number reported in 2005. On average, each KTO registered just under 20 invention disclosures and together  registered a total of 2,951 priority patent applications, an increase of 56.3% compared to the 2005 figure. 

The 2009 Survey indicates that the number of patents granted per year to members of ProTon Europe is progressively increasing with the average number of patents granted rising from 1.3 in 2005 to 3.4 in 2008 per KTO.  The 2009 Survey also reports that the total number of spin-off companies created with the support of European KTOs during 2008 was 495 compared to 435 in 2005.

In announcing the 2009 results Dr Arno Basedow, Chair, ProTon Europe, said, “The results from the ProTon Europe 2009 Survey show that key indicators of knowledge transfer activities have increased sharply across European since 2005. Even though European KTOs are still far from reaching the results achieved by American KTOs, mainly because of the fundamental differences in their structures and IP laws, the progressively improving results are encouraging, especially if one takes into account that European KTOs are on average much younger that their US counterparts.”

Dr Arno Basedow is the Managing Director of the Technologie-Lizenz-Büro (TLB), Karlsruhe, Germany. The TLB is the technology licensing office of the higher education institutions of the southern German state of Baden-Wurttemberg.

Speaking about the 2009 results, Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD and incoming Chair of the Board of ProTon Europe said, “Great progress has been made in most European countries, including Ireland, in developing knowledge transfer and innovation. However, to be on a par with the US, we need to tackle the diversity of intellectual property (IP) laws across Europe, the cost and complexity of the European patent system, the lack of consistency in the handling of IP and related agreements by research funding agencies, and the lack of substantial funding for proof-of-concept resources to demonstrate the commercial value of inventions.”

ENDS

5 May 2010

For further information contact: Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, t: +353 1 716 3712, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.

Editors Notes

ProTon Europe is the largest European Knowledge Transfer Association. Created in 2003 by the European Commission it has been self supporting since 2007. The complete results of the ProTon Europe 2009 Survey are available upon request to José Syne, Secretary-General, ProTon Europe (sg@protoneurope.org).

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. As such NovaUCD is at the forefront in the development of the TCD-UCD Innovation Alliance to develop a world-class ecosystem for innovation that will drive enterprise development and the creation of sustainable high-value jobs.

NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.