This is revealed, among other things, from a survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics dealing with the activity of knowledge commercialization companies near seven research universities in the State of Israel that examined knowledge commercialization companies near the research universities: 2009-2008
The Central Bureau of Statistics recently published a survey that examined knowledge exchange companies near universities in Israel for the years 2008 and 2009.
main findings:
- Knowledge commercialization companies submit about 400 initial applications for patents each year in Israel and abroad (about 94% of the total applications are submitted abroad).
- Inventions is the almost exclusive area where knowledge commercialization companies focus.
- Most of the income from intellectual property and royalties received in 2009 came from the field of medicine and life sciences (about 92%).
- All knowledge commercialization companies stated that the main means of protecting intellectual property was a patent application.
- Since their establishment, knowledge commercialization companies have been involved in the establishment of 151 start-up companies, of which 44 start-up companies are inactive.
- In the years 2009-2008, about 1,000 reports on intellectual property in the field of inventions were submitted by the researchers of the various universities for examination by knowledge commercialization companies, of which the companies decided to protect about 700.
- In the knowledge commercialization companies, most of the patents traded belong to Israeli companies, most of the royalties received came from Israeli companies and also most of the start-up companies that were established were in Israel.
- About 62% of the professional employees have a bachelor's or master's degree, the majority - 31% are engaged in the knowledge commercialization company in patents and legal rights.
- Israel's activity in the commercialization of knowledge in relation to the size of the higher education sector stands out compared to Canada, Australia, the USA and the UK, in the number of applications for intellectual property protection, in the number of initial applications for registering patents and in revenues from the sale of intellectual property and royalties.
The survey of knowledge commercialization companies near the universities in Israel for the years 2008 and 2009 includes the knowledge commercialization companies whose activities are complementary to the activities of the research universities (seven companies for seven universities). The role of the knowledge commercialization companies is to mobilize, market and develop the accumulated knowledge in the universities, turn the patent into a commercial product and help in the creation of the start-up companies. The knowledge commercialization companies in these operations increase the incomes of the universities and inventors.
This survey was conducted this year for the first time in Israel, at the initiative and with the support of the National R&D Council, Ministry of Science and Technology. The questionnaire dealt with the following topics: expenses and personnel in the field of intellectual property management, intellectual property management policy, intellectual property and its protection (patents, inventions, etc.), income from intellectual property, start-up companies partially or fully owned by knowledge commercialization companies, and more.
Here are the findings from the survey:
The business of knowledge commercialization companies
The knowledge commercialization companies deal with intellectual property management. Intellectual property is a general name for rights associated with intangible resources that are the creation of the human intellect, such as patents, copyrights and trademarks. These property rights allow their holder to create a monopoly on the use of an item for a certain period and in certain countries.
Intellectual property deals with the ownership of ideas, including literary and artistic works, protected by copyright, inventions, protected by patents, signs to distinguish between factory products, protected by trademarks and other elements of industrial property.
In the first stage, the companies turn to the academic staff at the university to receive new ideas, innovations and inventions. The knowledge commercialization companies then examine whether the idea, invention or innovation is protectable and whether it has a commercial potential that justifies patent registration. The companies decide with which of the ideas they wish to continue the process and which of the ideas to reject. Later in the process, the companies try to market the patent rights to companies in Israel and abroad. The companies sell exclusive or non-exclusive rights.
There are different types of intellectual property: inventions, computer programs, databases, teaching aids, other aids, industrial plans, trade mark or official marks, new plant varieties, etc.
In 2008 and 2009, the knowledge commercialization companies reported 992 intellectual property cases of the type of inventions, of which it was decided to protect 694 cases. It was also decided that 245 of the cases should be rejected and 53 of the cases have yet to be decided.
For all seven companies, the main intellectual property is inventions, of which two companies have another type of intellectual property, which is computer programming or databases.
There are other types of property whose development has not been adopted by companies in Israel such as: teaching aids, other aids, industrial plans, commercial or official symbols, varieties of new plants and others. There are several types of intellectual property protection.
The involvement of knowledge commercialization companies in the years 2009-2008 in the protection of intellectual property
All knowledge commercialization companies in 2008 and 2009 were involved in some form of intellectual property protection. All the knowledge commercialization companies stated that in these years they submitted applications for patent registration. Four companies have submitted applications for processing agreements for the transfer of reserved materials intended for the institution. Six companies submitted applications for the execution of non-disclosure agreements and applications for processing agreements for the transfer of reserved materials intended for external parties.
Additional protections not submitted by the companies: copyright registration on works, books and literary compositions in art, music and theater, copyright registration on teaching aids, copyright registration on industrial designs, requests for protection of a commercial or official symbol and topographical registration of integrated circuits.
Patent applications
A particularly important part of the business of knowledge commercialization companies is submitting applications for patents, when the patents are granted to the inventor by the government in Israel or authorities abroad. A patent is an exclusive right of use granted by the state to the owner of an invention to use his invention for a limited time whether it is a product or a process in a technological field. In order to obtain a patent for an invention, an application must be submitted to the authority that handles it in that country. The patent registration is valid only in the countries where it was registered. An application for patent registration can be submitted in several countries, therefore one patent is often registered in more than one country in order to obtain maximum protection for the idea or innovation.
The knowledge commercialization companies submit applications for first patents after examining the idea or innovation. To get an impression of the degree of innovation, we must refer to the initial patent filed for each invention. In 2008, 395 applications were submitted and in 2009, 384 were submitted. Most of the initial applications were submitted abroad (about 94%). In 2008, 27 initial applications were submitted in Israel and in 2009, 19 applications were submitted.
The total number of applications submitted for patent registration in all countries in 2009-2008 (initial applications and continuation applications) amounted to an annual average of 1,128 applications.
Examining the applications by field shows that in 2008 and 2009, 779 initial applications were submitted according to the following division: the field of life sciences and medicine: 350 applications, engineering 182, mathematics and computer science 74 applications, natural physical sciences 141 applications and others 32 applications.
Life sciences and medicine is the field with the highest number of initial applications among the fields: 350 applications (about 45% of the total number of applications).
In three out of five fields: mathematics and computer science, the natural physical sciences and others, there is an increase in patent applications compared to the previous year. Also, the initial applications submitted by knowledge commercialization companies are from three fields and more, in two of the seven companies, the initial applications for patents were spread across all five fields.
The number of applications for patents submitted by the knowledge commercialization companies from their establishment until the end of 2009 was 13,493, of which the number of applications for patents in Israel was 1,991 (about 15% of all applications), while in the USA the highest number of applications for patents was 4,329 (about 32% total of all requests).
In Israel, patent applications were submitted in other countries such as: India, Australia, Brazil and China: 5,299 (about 39% of all applications). On average, each patent or invention was registered in more than four countries.
Registered patents and patent families
The number of patents registered by the knowledge commercialization companies by the end of 2009 was 3,313.
In Israel, 536 patents were registered (about 16% of all patents), while the number of patents registered in the USA was the highest at 1,136 (about 34% of all patent registrations).
Registrations for patents in other countries amounted to 1,178 (about 36% of all registrations), in countries such as: India, Australia, Brazil and China.
The concentration among knowledge commercialization companies is expressed by the fact that the weight of three companies out of the seven companies whose patent families were commercialized was about 89%.
In the years when the knowledge commercialization companies operated near the universities, a large number of patent families would be presented in patent applications, where a patent family includes the initial patent registered in a certain country and the other patents registered after it, for the same invention, idea or knowledge, in other countries while declaring the priority of the initial patent.
The number of patent families gives a clear expression to the stock of inventions held by the universities. The number of patent families represented in applications for patent registration from the founding of the Knowledge Commercialization Company to the end of 2009 was 4,329. The number of patent families traded from the day the knowledge commercialization companies were established until the end of 2009 was 1,228 of which 774 were traded and belonged to companies in Israel, and 454 were traded and belonged to companies abroad.
Revenue
The role of knowledge commercialization companies is to recruit, market, develop the accumulated knowledge in universities, turn the patent into a commercial product and help in the creation of start-up companies. The knowledge commercialization companies in these operations increase the incomes of the universities and inventors.
The total revenue from the sale of intellectual property and royalties amounted in 2008 to 1,568 million NIS and in 2009 to 1,834 million NIS.
The percentage of revenues from the sale of intellectual property and rewards in the field of life sciences and medicine was the highest in 2008 (72.6%) and 2009 (92.1%).
In the field of life sciences and medicine there was an increase in the percentage of revenues in 2009 compared to 2008, compared to the other areas, in which there was a decrease or no change compared to the previous year.
The field of life sciences and medicine was the largest field both in terms of initial applications and applications for registering patents and in terms of the percentage of revenues compared to the other fields. The field of mathematics and computer science was the field with the lowest revenue percentage among the fields.
- The knowledge commercialization companies increased their income from the sale of intellectual property and royalties to Israeli companies in 2009 (1,333 million NIS) compared to 2008 (908 million NIS) by about 47%. Also, sales to companies in the USA increased in 2009 (305 million NIS) compared to 2008 (141 million NIS) by about 216%.
- The revenues from the sale of intellectual property and royalties to European countries decreased in 2009 (196 million NIS) compared to 2008 (518 million NIS).
The revenues of the knowledge commercialization companies are divided between several parties: inventors and their partners, the university, the knowledge commercialization company and other institutions. Most of the revenues from the sale of intellectual property and royalties are divided between the universities (about 54%) and the inventors and their partners (about 41%). 4% of the revenue is received by the knowledge commercialization companies.
The income for inventors and their partners increased in 2009 by about 16% compared to 2008.
The share of universities in revenues from intellectual property increased in 2009 by approximately 17% compared to 2008. The share of knowledge commercialization companies in revenues from intellectual property increased in 2009 by approximately 21% compared to 2008.
Ownership of start-up companies in Israel and abroad
The commercialization companies also have partial ownership of the start-up companies. Until 2011, the number of start-up companies that were partially owned by the knowledge commercialization companies amounted to 151, of which 107 were active companies (about 71%). In Israel, knowledge commercialization companies have a partial ownership of the start-up companies that ranges widely: 0.01%-91%. The average ownership percentage of the knowledge commercialization companies on the active start-up companies (not weighted by the size of the start-up companies) is 14.7%.
Most of the start-up companies are not traded on the stock exchange, with the exception of four companies. Three knowledge commercialization companies have partial ownership of between two and nine startup companies. Four companies partially own ten or more startups.
Personnel
The number of employees in knowledge commercialization companies varies between 30-2 employees, of which the number of professional employees varies between 11-2 employees.
The number of professional employees in knowledge commercialization companies amounted to 37. One company out of the seven companies employs over 10 professional employees. Most of the professional workers had bachelor's and master's degrees (about 62% of the total professional workers).
In 2009, the total expenditure for intellectual property management was NIS 39,416 thousand in Israel (one company's partial data). The total number of intellectual property employees in knowledge commercialization companies was 85. The average annual expenditure per employee was 464 thousand NIS. (The average expenditure includes salaries, payments for patents and licenses, etc.).
Average years of experience in managing intellectual property is about 9 years for a professional employee. Most of the professional employees (about 59%) had 14-5 years of experience in intellectual property management.
The percentage of professional employees in knowledge commercialization companies that deal with patents and legal rights: 31%, marketing and business development 22%, in management was 19%, recruiting inventions for the company 14% and finances 14%. The dominant field of study in which the professional workers are employed in knowledge commercialization companies was the physical natural sciences, on the other hand, the less dominant field was mathematics and computer science.
International comparisons - Israel, Canada, Australia, USA and Great Britain
Only in some OECD countries was a knowledge commercialization survey conducted: in Canada, 2008 institutions answered the survey in 142 (out of 125): 77 universities and 48 affiliated institutes. In Australia, 36 universities responded to the survey in 2008 and 2009. In Great Britain, the survey included all 165 university institutions and in the USA, 2008 institutions participated in the survey in 157 and in 2009, 153 institutions.
The number of applications for the protection of intellectual property submitted in 2009 is higher in Canada, Australia, the UK and the USA than the number of applications submitted in Israel. On the other hand, in the number of requests for intellectual property protection after adjustment to the number of full positions in universities, Israel leads. In the number of initial applications for patents, adjusted to the number of full positions in universities, Israel is also higher than the other countries surveyed.
The number of patents registered until the end of 2009 in Israel (3,313) is higher than the number of patents registered in Australia (1,860). The number of start-up companies established until 2009 in Israel (151) is similar to the number of start-up companies in Australia (152), and lower than the USA (3,175). On the other hand, the number of start-up companies active in Israel-107 is lower than in Canada-137. The total expenses for intellectual property in Canada - 183,422 thousand NIS were higher than in Australia - 53,940 thousand NIS and Israel - 39,416 thousand NIS.
The total revenue from the sale of intellectual property and royalties in Israel is considerably higher than in Canada, Australia and Great Britain and lower than in the USA. The total revenues from the sale of intellectual property and royalties relative to R&D expenses in universities are higher in Israel than in the other countries in comparison.
