ICFO in top 10 in patent creation
ICFO among universities and research centers cited for their significant contribution to innovation
This week, the European Patents Organization (EPO) published the 2020 patent index detailing the number of new patents registered in Spain last year. As the patent system promotes innovation and economic development, many look to patenting tendencies to gauge growth and resilience of the economy as well as industry trends.
"Despite the pandemic, Spanish inventors remained very active in 2020, and universities and research institutions once again made a significant contribution to innovation," said the president of the EPO, António Campinos. Emphasizing the importance of this data, Campinos also pointed out that “science, research and innovation, backed by a solid intellectual property system, is more important than ever to make our world safer, smarter and more sustainable, and to promote the economic recovery". ICFO has been an important contributor in this regard, ranking in the top ten of companies and research institutes in patent applications for the third consecutive year.
Among the companies and institutions in the top ten, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) came out in first place with 72 applications, followed by Amadeus (60), Esteve Pharmaceuticals, Tecnalia Research & Innovation Foundation and Telefónica (17 each), Universitat Politènica de Cataunya, (15), PharmaMar (14), Repsol (14), ) and ICFO, Autotech Engineering and SEAT (11 each).
ICFO’s Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) team plays a key role in connecting industry with exciting developments in ICFO laboratories. One of ICFO’s main goals is to maximize business opportunities arising from research being carried out at the Institute and from collaborations with industries, investors and health-care allies. With experience in both business and research, the KTT team develops business plans that are tailored to the unique needs of each company and aligned with the researched capabilities of ICFO. They have a demonstrated
Dr. Silvia Carrasco, director of the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Unit, comments that “A key aspect in our efforts to bring ICFO’s innovations all the way from the labs towards products that can improve people’s lives is to build solid and strategic patent portfolios around the exciting technologies developed by ICFOnians”.