DPI inventions and patents 2007
DPI has experienced quite a good year in terms of patents and inventions. A total of 27 invention disclosures was submitted in 2007, which is an 80% growth compared to 2006. It is DPI policy to only file a patent application in case at least one of its partner companies is interested the technology. As a result, 16 of these submitted inventions have been - or will be - filed as a patent application. In a few years' time these patent applications will be offered for transfer to the DPI partner companies, to ensure further development of these DPI technologies into new products and processes.
This brings DPI to an average of 1.5 inventions per M€ spent in 2007. Because some of the patent applications resulting from these inventions will be filed in 2008, and the result of 2006 was somewhat lower, the number of patent applications per M€ spent in 2007 is 0.5. This number is comparable to the results of other organisations such as STW.
Technology Areas
The DPI programme is divided into several technology areas (TA) some of which are larger than others. Therefore we should also look at the patent numbers per M€ spent when comparing them. The TAs Performance Polymers, Functional Polymer Systems and Coatings Technology rank highest in 2007 invention disclosures, whereas in terms of first filings in 2007 the TA Coatings Technology has the highest score and Performance Polymers and Functional Polymer Systems follow at a small distance. The TA Bio-Inspired Polymers only recently started, therefore has only procuded 1 invention. Another Technology Area that has only just started recently, Large Area Thin Film Electronics, has not produced any inventions or patents yet. Considering the growth of patents and inventions in the DPI programme as a whole, we expect to see results in terms of IP from these programmes in the near future as well.
Contact: Shila de Vries
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