European IP Regimes and their Impact on Technology ... - EIB Institute

Financing Knowledge Transfer in Europe FinKT project Federico Munari Department of Management, Bologna University [email protected]

EIBURS meeting, EIB Luxembourg, 24 January 2013

Objectives of the FinKT project (“Financing Knowledge Transfer in Europe”)  Overall goal: analyse the financial instruments and the forms of partnerships between financial investors and universities/PROs that can facilitate technology transfer in Europe  The project is undertaken by the Department of Management of the University of Bologna, in collaboration with Bocconi University (Duration: Mar 2012-Feb 2015)  The project is funded by the European Investment Bank, under the EIBURS measure  Project website: finkt.unibo.it Slide 1

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

Structure of the FinKT project » 4 Work-Packages on Research activities  WP 1: The institutional context for technology transfer and IP finance in Europe: a multi-country comparison  WP 2: The determinants of IP exploitation of universities and PROs: licensing, patent sale and start-ups  WP 3: The design and impact of financial instruments for technology transfer  WP 4: Policy guidelines

» 2 Work-Packages on Training and dissemination activities  WP 5: Summer School  WP 6: Diffusion activities

Slide 2

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

Empirical / methodological aspects Extensive coverage: 

Multi-country perspective: analysis of all the main European Member States which implemented experiences of technology transfer financing;



Different mechanisms for technology transfer: sale and licensing of patents generated from universities, and the creation of new academic spin-offs;

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Different types of financial instruments: university seed funds, designed to provide equity financing to new ventures stemming from universities, and patent-backed financial instruments, such as proof-of-concept funds, IP and royalty funds, designed to valorize specific IP assets.

Combination of different methodological approaches:  econometric techniques on survey-data or newly developed datasets on venture-backed spin-offs  qualitative techniques, based on the realization of case-studies related to different experiences of technology transfer financing

Slide 3

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

WP1: The institutional context for technology transfer and IP finance in Europe: a multi-country comparison  Review and updated map of university IPR laws and rules in the main European countries  Assessment of the consequences for the involvement of financial investors in technology transfer  Understanding incentive mechanisms of academics and researchers and the diversity of institutional logics of industry work, that may represent barriers to TT activities

 Map and analysis of policy measures established in Europe to support TT investing, with specific attention to: a) direct financial support (i.e. patent subsidies); b) support for partnerships between universities and financial investors (i.e. patent funds)

Slide 4

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

WP2: The determinants of IP exploitation of universities and PROs: licensing, patent sale and start-ups  Analyses of the determinants of different means for TT by universities and PROs: patent licensing, patent sale, spin-offs (and commercialization in products and processes).

 Assessment of the differential impact of relevant factors on joint or alternative means for TT  Determinants of willingness to TT vs. actual decisions of TT: assessment of obstacles and facilitating factors for IP markets

 Many unused patents, but willing to be used: how to exploit these patents? What are the barriers/difficulties to access technology markets? Higher barriers to licensing than spin-offs?  Assessment of the impact of type of funding and partnerships on intentions and actual decisions of patent licensing, patent sale and spin-offs

Slide 5

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

The commercialization of patents by university and PROs – an analysis based on data from the Patval II survey

•

Objectives • Understand whether and how the ownership of IPRs by universities and PROs affect their subsequent commercialization by considering three exploitation routes:

• Patent sales • Licensing • Spin-off formation

• Empirical evidence from a sample of 1297 EPO patents with inventors employed by universities and PROs in 23 countries 6

Ownership patterns of University/PRO patents

1. With respect to the paper by Crespi et al, (2010), we find a significant increase in the shares of patents owned by universities and PROs Authors N. Countries Priority dates % University Owned % University Invented % PRO Owned % PRO Invented

Giuri and Munari, 2012 Giuri and Munari, 2012 Crespi et al., 2010 23 6 6 2003-2005 2003-2005 1993-1997 44% 56% 76% 24%

45% 55% 85% 15%

18% 82% 42% 58%

7

Patent ownership and commercialization outcomes: descriptive statistics

All patents

Sale

University/PRO Owned University/PRO Invented Total

8.32% 13.15% 10.32%

Only University patents

Sale

University Owned University Invented Total

14.39% 15.02% 14.71%

Only PRO patents

Sale

PRO Owned PRO Invented Total

2.21% 7.35% 3.40%

License 27.59% 17.95% 23.71% License 36.98% 17.37% 27.29% License 19.13% 17.39% 18.73%

Spin-off 14.54% 15.93% 15.13% Spin-off 23.30% 15.21% 19.05% Spin-off 5.71% 13.33% 7.50%

External Use 35.89% 34.85% 35.47% External Use 48.43% 36.73% 42.69% External Use 23.50% 25.81% 24.01% 8

WP3:The design and impact of financial instruments for technology transfer

 Map and analysis of University Seed Funds established in Europe » Study of the success rates of academic spin-offs backed by USFs, as compared to other VC-backed new ventures. » Analysis of the impact of the type of affiliation and investment strategies of USFs  Map and classification of the proof-of-concept funds established in Europe for technology transfer

» Understand under which conditions they can be effectively exploited » Identify critical success factor in their design and implementation

Slide 9

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

Mapping University Seed Funds and Proof-of-concept Funds in Europe: initial evidence (based on Thomson One and Internet searches) Distribution of companies funded by USF

Distribution of USF (n=59) 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

(n=472)

19

250 202

200 11

150 6

5

100 4

3

3

2

2

1

1

1

76 50 47

50

1

28

15 14 10 9

0

6

4

4

2

2

2

1

(n=24) 14

12

12 10 8

Distribution of PoC funds

6 4

2

3

3

3

1

1

1

0

10

WP4: Policy guidelines 

Implications for Policy measures on: • Financial support to universities and TTOs and partnerships between financial investors and universities • Functioning of IP markets and participation of research organizations: analysis of impediments and facilitating factors, including financial instruments and supporting institutions • Optimal structuring of university seed funds programs, setting up of patent-based financial instruments • improving the organization of public-private partnerships between government and regional authorities, universities and research centers and financial institutions, aimed at enhancing technology transfer activities. • improving the design and implementation of publicly-supported financial instruments to promote technology transfer

Slide 11

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

Main training and dissemination activities 

Workshop (1st year) for discussing the themes of the FinKT project with academics, invited experts in the field from Europe, including representatives of TTOs, financial intermediaries, EIB/EIF. » Objective: insights from experts and assessment of the FinKT prokect activities, work in progress, preliminary results and future plans

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workshop (2nd year) oriented to TTOs in Europe, financial intermediaries (including VC) and other institutions involved in TT operations » Involvement of Netval, Proton and other relevant networks

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Summer school on Economics and Management of IPRs (2nd year): directed to Phd students and other interested people, with the participation of academics expert in the field (including the FinKT team), EIB and other experts from relevant institutions (June 2013)

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Organization of a parallel or plenary session within the 2013 EPIP conference on IP legal and regulatory system / financial instruments and TT

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Final Conference (3rd year) on financing TT, with call for papers and a round table with invited policy makers

Slide 12

July 6, 2012

KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris

FINKT project

Contacts and project website

Project website: finkt.unibo.it - Paola Giuri, [email protected] - Federico Munari, [email protected]