From: Anatole F Krattiger [
Sent:Thursday, September 23, 2004 6:00 PM
Subject: IP Strategy Today Nos. 8, 9 and 10: From Patent Pools to PVP to IP and Public Health.
Colleagues:
IP Strategy Today No 8-2004 has just been published (see below for a summary) on technology transfer and financing. This is followed by IP Strategy Today No 9-2004 which is a special issue on plant variety protection, and our first volume on intellectual property rights and public health.
You can download all of them for free on
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No 10-2004:
Intellectual Property and Licensing and their Impact on Global Public Goods for Health: Perspectives from a Public Sector Biomedical Research Agency.
By Gerald T Keusch and Rachel A Nugent (Fogarty International Center National Institute of Health).
Building a "Cottage Industry" for Health (and Wealth): The New Framework for IP Management in India.
By R. Saha (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India)
Kanikaram Satyanarayana (Indian Council of Medical Research), and
Charles A. Gardner (The Rockefeller Foundation).
The Role of Milestones in Licensing Deals to Assure Access to Products (Drugs) in Developing Countries.
By Joachim Oehler (Concept Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand)
No 9-2004 in April includes:
Intellectual Property Rights, Patents, Plant Variety Protection and Contracts: A Perspective from the Private Sector.
By Jean Donnenwirth, John Grace and Stephen Smith (Pioneer Hi-Bred International)
Protection of Plant-Related Innovations: Evolution and Current Discussion.
By Bernard LeBuanec (ISF-The International Seed Federation [formerly FIS and ASSINSEL])
No 8-2004 just published and downloadable for free on
Financing the Bioindustry and Facilitating Biotech Transfer
By Anatole Krattiger (bioDevelopments LLC)
includes an analysis of proprietary tech transfer mechanisms, funding systems, and partnerships, with proposals for public/private investment services and policy initiatives.
Executive Summary of IP Strategy Today No 8-2004:
The Problem: The comprehensive study revealed that industrial biotech is poised to become the next major wave of biotechnology applications, exceeding 20% of today's $280 billion chemical market by 2010 with far reaching implications hitherto poorly studied and understood. Industrial biotechnology has become one of the key investment areas in developed countries and will become the next major technology with far reaching commercial, social and environmental impacts. It is expected to dramatically shift value added in a range of processes. Unless developing countries become part of this revolution, they will once again become more technologically excluded.
Key questions identified are:
1. Recognizing that the US$10 billion plus investments into biotech R&D is overwhelmingly in developed countries, how will developing countries have access to existing technologies?
2. Recognizing that the challenge of extending investments into this area is important, how can developing countries increase investor confidence, increase the abundance of venture capital, lend higher government support, strengthen infrastructure and broaden national markets?
3. Recognizing that tech transfer is a long term proposition, how can stronger partnerships be created to transfer know-how and integrate the emerging private sector in the developing world into the social and economic networks that are becoming so important?
4. Recognizing that many initiatives exist in the agricultural and human health fields, but none in industrial biotech, what is the appropriate role for an agency like UNIDO in assisting the urgent need for creative initiatives, particularly aimed at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)?
A review of existing investment services and technology access and transfer systems: A comprehensive review of a dozen types of mechanisms, all specifically dealing with technology transfer, IP transfer, and facilitating investments is included. The types of mechanisms or services reviewed are:
- Royalty collection agencies
- Information clearing houses (including 1. Web-based IP auctions and licensing, including business-to-business and 2. Public sector initiatives dealing with training, good practices, and the bundling of technologies)
- Open-source innovation clearing houses
- Brokers and other forms of facilitators
- IP management services
- IP commercialization agents (including 1. Commercial entities dedicated to commercialization of third party IP and 2. Mixed commercial and public good objectives)
- Integrated commercial services
- Patent pools
- Other public tech transfer and financing mechanisms
- Company-to-company arrangements (including collaborations, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and corporate partnering).
Options/Recommendations: Although the briefing paper reviewed the interface of patents and other forms of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in detail and studied the potential applicability of a patent pool, the paper concluded that IPRs per se are not the key stumbling block. One major challenge when exports are involved (a critical way of capturing added value) is the complexity of the licenses required for an entire technology bundle; this increases transaction costs and impedes the transfer. The key capacities that are lacking in the developing world in general is in the management of innovation and IP, experience with and networks for partnership building and financing.
The study recommended a set of five focused initiatives and three broad ones with short, medium and long term impact. These range from improving the institutional IP management capabilities to policy advocacy programs. One proposed strategy was considered to be the most important as it integrates many of the other services and initiatives and contributes to achieving the goals identified, namely catalyzing the creation of tailor-made investment and IP brokering service. In order to spur biotechnology transfer, an integrated service is required that assists SMEs and public institutions alike in business development, securing technologies and investments, offering due diligence audits, assisting with negotiating in-licensing arrangements; identifying business opportunities in partnering, both for technology in-licensing and the export of products and services; and arranging financing for transactions to bear fruit. The service would assist with small (<$2 million) and medium-sized ($2-10 million) deals. Programmatically, an integrated list of services would be provided to foment business growth through technological upgrading, in-licensing and investments.
Developed countries are investing enormous sums in industrial biotechnology because of its far reaching commercial, social, and environmental promise. It will dramatically change the creation of value in a range of manufacturing processes. Developing countries, however, will once again be excluded from economic growth and the benefits of new technologies if they do not take part in this revolution.
Anatole F. Krattiger, MPhil PhD
Chairman, bioDevelopments-International Institute
Adjunct Professor, Cornell University
Professor, Arizona State University
PO Box 4235, Cornell Business & Technology Park
Ithaca, NY 14852, USA
Phone+1-607-532 4413
Fax +1-212-504 8287
or
Courier address: Krassimira Woods, 8511 Route 89, Interlaken, NY 14847, USA.
Anatole F. Krattiger, MPhil PhD
Chairman, bioDevelopments-International Institute
PO Box 4235, Cornell Business & Technology Park
Ithaca, NY 14852, USA
Phone+1-607-532 4413
Fax +1-212-504 8287
Web
Courier address: 8511 Krassimira Woods, Route 89, Interlaken, NY 14847, USA.