Fresh impetus for business relations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patents for sale ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enhance the innovation capacity of French small-to-medium-sized businesses and industrial companies—and make them more competitive. This is the objective of the Strengthened SME-Research Partnership (PR2) program launched by CNRS in late 2011. Around 1,000 of the 4,500 patent families* in the organization’s portfolio are not being used. Having made sure that these patents were not part of its Strategic Pillars of Innovation (AS), CNRS decided to sell them at very attractive prices to small-to-medium-sized businesses and industries. In return, these firms agreed to collaborate with CNRS teams in order to adapt the inventions to their specific needs, and establish a sustainable innovation strategy. More than one hundred small- to-medium-sized businesses and industrial companies have expressed interest in the scheme, and in-depth discussions have been initiated with half of them. * A patent family consists of a national patent and its international extensions. A new strategy Managing a portfolio of almost 4,500 patent families is no mean feat, though. Each year, CNRS spends nearly €17 million to main- tain its patents, with changes to the research landscape boosting the number of participants in the field of innovation: competi- tiveness clusters, Carnot institutes, offshoots of the Investments for the Future program, etc. Therefore, in 2011, CNRS decided to implement a new strategy based on two priorities: improving technology transfer to the economic sphere; and increasing the organization’s involvement in innovation ecosystems. The first project, defining the Strategic Pillars of Innovation (ASI), required a year’s effort in 2011. ‘We matched the areas of research where CNRS has key assets (patents, publications, cutting-edge equipment, know-how, research contracts, inter- nationally-recognized researchers) with emerging or increasing requests from the economic sector,’ says Pierre Gohar. CNRS defined 51 ASIs; the list will be fine-tuned in 2012 and updated regularly thereafter. ‘This should improve the management of our patent portfolio by creating patent clusters concerning ASIs,’ notes Pierre Gohar. ‘It will also clarify our strategy and potential for cooperation, notably regarding our university or industrial partners.’ ••• Regional offices support innovation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jocelyn Méré, head of the Partnership and Technology Transfer Department at the Languedoc-Roussillon regional office What is the role of the Partnership and Technology Transfer from the outside so as to detect innovations as early as possible. Department? In 2011 we developed an internal management tool accessible to We help laboratories identify and assess the economic potential of their research units for tracking progress on contracts concerning their inventions. Where relevant, they are brought to market by Fist*. We also projects. We plan to interface it with partner universities’ databases negotiate research agreements between research units and businesses, so that laboratories may track all their agreements using a single tool. and respond to calls for proposals (ANR**, European projects, etc.). Other regional offices have expressed interest, and we are considering developing a common tool for the whole of CNRS. What have you done to support innovation in laboratories? We raise researchers’ awareness of the importance of intellectual * CNRS subsidiary specialized in technology transfer. property in order to encourage them to protect their inventions prior to ** French National Research Agency. publication. We also organize regular follow-up either within the units or 61 2011 A year at CNRS
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