The need to improve capacity of intellectual property management and technology commercialization of institutions

How could institutions overcome obstacles to transform their scientific research into products and services on the market, and to connect with industries, experts and other factors in the innovation ecosystem? This is a crucial question that draws great attention of many participants in the workshop “Intellectual Property Management and Technology Commercialization for Technology Managers of Spoke Institutions in the Framework of Enabling Intellectual Property Environment Project (EIE)” organized on October 28-31, 2019 by the WIPO, JPO in collaboration with IP Vietnam, MOST, and HUST.

The workshop had honour to have participation of Deputy Director of  IP Viet Nam – Mr. Phan Ngan Son;  Vice President of  HUST – Mr. Dinh Van Phong;  Expert of Cooperative Support, WIPO – Mr. Fumio Ishitsuka; IP Consultant, a Member of ET Cube International, France – Ms. Yumiko Hamano;  President of BioProperty Strategy Group Inc., Professor and International Program Manager of Cornell University, USA – Mr. Richard S. Cahoon; Independent Consultant and Technical Director of FORTEC – Ms. Elizabeth Ritter; and delegates from EIE Spoke Institutions, as well as from other institutions/ universities/ enterprises.

“HUST is ranked among the top 400 universities in the world in terms of technology and engineering in general, and in the top 500 in the field of computer science in particular. It has always focused on IP and Technology Transfer” said  Dinh Van Phong – Vice President of HUST. Specifically, in 2008, BK-Holding was established to be responsible for Technology Transfer and a few weeks ago, its own technology transfer board was founded. However, HUST IP management capacity, according to Phong, is “still limited”. Hence, the purpose of HUST’s science managers to this workshop is to listen WIPO experts sharing their analysis of the obstacle issues in order to not only “directly enhance the capacity of its Technology Transfer staff” but also “help HUST build up its own strategic direction”.

Having the same expectations, but in the perspective of addressing specific consultation cases, Mr. Tran Van Nam – Dean of the Faculty of Law, National Economics University, said that one of his clients has been granted 2 patents, which worth up to millions of USD as evaluated by foreign experts; however, they had been struggling to commercialize their technology products.

Those two stories were just typical examples that presented the various needs of the participants. Other participants from the technology transfer or scientific management departments of many institutions which are knowned for highly evaluated research, such as Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, HUST, Ho Chi Minh National University, Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy, …and S&T enterprises like Sao Thai Duong, all were willing not only to learn about IP management in general, but also to discuss on every specific aspects in which their organizations had difficulties during IP commercialization.

In order to meet the demands of the participants, the workshop covered some emerging topics such as: Domestic and International IP environment; Guidelines on Technology Transfer and IP Commercialization for spoke institutions; Technology Transfer Office (TTO) organization and administration; Invention Disclosure Procedures and System; IP Protection  Methods; Policies on IP and Ownership Issues, Benefit Distribution, Partnership with Private Sectors; IP Strategy; Assessment and Evaluation of inventions and technologies; Research on Potential Trading Partners for Licensing;  Technology Marketing Campaign Development; University – Industry R&D Partnership.

With that covered content, experienced experts in technology transfer, which including Richard S. Cahoon who gained experiences in operating TTO at Cornell University, USA; Elizabeth Ritter who provided advice Technology Transfer on Brazil since the first TTO established; Yumiko Hamano – IP consultant, and Fumio Ishitsuka – WIPO expert, shared their experiences and valuable lessons on IP management and technology commercialization. In addition, the experts discussed about “Experiences from both developed countries as the US and countries with similar conditions to Vietnam in order to formulate the most effective models in each specific case”, said Richard S. Cahoon.

The four-day workshop (from October 28 to October 31), besides general “methodological issues”, would provide “face-to-face” consultations on technology commercialization for institutions, said Mr. Son – Deputy Director of IP Viet Nam.

This workshop is the first activity since WIPO and IP Viet Nam officially signed their agreement on implementing EIE project on September 30, 2019 in Geneva. The goals of the Project are support IP and innovation capacity enhancement for institutional personnel in terms of research / innovation, patent registration and commercialization, as well as technology transfer. EIE would also establish a network of technology experts equipped with comprehensive knowledge and skills in IP and other related fields, as well as build up a System of Spindle and Spokes. (IP-HUB) in which IP Viet Nam plays the role of Spindle, while institutions, universities and industries act as Spokes. The project will be implemented within 05 years from 2019 to 2023. By the end of September 2019, IP Viet Nam has formulates a network of 59 institutions participated in the project of “Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC)” hosted d by WIPO; especially, since the beginning of 2019, 14 institutions have been added to the network. Among these TISC members, 10 members have been selected by WIPO and IP Viet Nam to participate in EIE project. The spokes will be supported by WIPO and IP Viet Nam in their IP activities, especially improving their capacity of IP management and technology commercialization, or directly consulted and supported by WIPO experts.

Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam

Source: noip