“The patent licensed to us by Hangzhou Dianzi University has solved the key problems in the company’s multi-stage pump research and development process and has generated economic benefits.” Taizhou Longfute Woodworking Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Longfute Company) is one of the beneficiaries of the pilot work of patent open licensing in Zhejiang Province. In just a few months, the company has reaped “real money”.
The Zhejiang Provincial Intellectual Property Office began to explore patent open licensing in October 2021 and started pilot work in May this year. A set of data shows the results: At present, a total of 1,406 patents from 23 universities and research institutes in Zhejiang have participated in open licensing, and patent information has been pushed to more than 16,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, and more than 580 patent licensing contracts have been signed.
“Relying on digital platforms such as Zhejiang Intellectual Property Online and Zhejiang Enterprise Online, Zhejiang has continuously established and improved a precise matching and push system for patent information, built a ‘patent bridge’ for universities and research institutes and enterprises, and greatly improved the efficiency of patent open licensing.” Zhang Genming, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Intellectual Property Office, said in an interview with our reporter.
Patent “Call Order” enriches technical reserves
“In May this year, the State Intellectual Property Office officially authorized Zhejiang Province to carry out a pilot program for patent open licensing. Based on the previous exploration, Zhejiang Province has formulated an implementation plan for the pilot program for patent open licensing, including a patent licensing information release mechanism and a multi-party supply and demand docking mechanism.” Zhang Genming introduced.
Issuing a patent “call order” is an important measure for Zhejiang to enrich the patent open licensing database. The patent collection targets are mainly universities and research institutes. At present, Zhejiang has 1,406 patents participating in open licensing, and the single license period is at least 1 year, ensuring that companies have sufficient time to transform patented technologies into products.
Hangzhou Dianzi University is one of the first universities to participate in the Zhejiang patent open licensing pilot. “The school selected 103 patents for free open licensing. These patent technologies highlight the “Hangzhou Dianzi characteristics” and mainly involve electronic information, computers, mechanical engineering, etc.” Cheng Xingkun, director of the Intellectual Property Operation Center of Hangzhou Dianzi University, introduced in an interview with our reporter.
After the “call order” was issued, various places in Zhejiang responded positively, and Ningbo became the city with the largest number of patent open licenses in Zhejiang. “Ningbo universities and research institutes can publish open license information through platforms such as Zhejiang Intellectual Property Online and Zhejiang Intellectual Property Exchange Center. At present, 681 open license patents from 16 universities and research institutes have been accurately pushed to 7,615 small and medium-sized enterprises in the city.” A relevant person in charge of the Ningbo Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Zhejiang Province said.
The Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the research institutes that responded to the “collection order”. The institute took the lead in filing 18 patent information participating in open licensing at the Zhejiang Intellectual Property Exchange Center, promising not to charge any license fees within the three-year license period. At present, 11 companies related to industries such as magnetic materials, solar energy, and advanced robots have expressed their intention to cooperate.
Enterprise “through train” to obtain accurate push
How to accurately push patent open license information to enterprises in need? Zhejiang has developed the “Patent Magpie Bridge” based on the digital system, and built a closed-loop management mechanism with “patent collection, matching association, accurate push, performance evaluation, and policy incentives” as the main line, which can be said to have opened a patent information “through train” for enterprises. Lin Min, director of the Intellectual Property Promotion Division of the Zhejiang Provincial Intellectual Property Office, introduced: “The ‘Patent Magpie Bridge’ brain product can carry out precise matching based on the portrait of the innovation subject. According to the historical transaction data of patent licenses, the industry and region of the enterprise, and other basic information, combined with patent navigation, patent value assessment and other services, a personalized patent matching list for enterprises in related fields is formed. If the open license database receives relevant patents, it can quickly match them to small and medium-sized enterprises with potential needs, effectively improving the coverage and accessibility of patent open license information.” Longfute Company is a company specializing in the production of stainless steel water pump accessories, car seat accessories, embroidery machine accessories and other products. Thanks to the precise push of “Patent Magpie Bridge”, the company learned that the multi-stage pump technology developed by Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology is suitable for the company to break through the current technical bottlenecks. At present, the two parties have signed 2 patent license contracts, 1 patent transfer contract, and 1 technology development contract. “Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology not only licensed the patent to us for free, but also sent 3 experts to guide us, which well solved the technical development problems we are facing at this stage.” Lin Jibing, head of Longfute, said. Zhejiang Baoke Machinery Co., Ltd. is another beneficiary of the open patent license of Hangzhou Dianzi University. The head of the company’s R&D department said: “The patent technology of the university provides a new idea for overcoming the technical difficulties of reducing roller friction. The two sides will further deepen the industry-university-research cooperation on this basis.” At present, the two parties have signed a patent licensing contract. In addition, in order to improve the patent licensing efficiency of universities, research institutes and enterprises, the Zhejiang Provincial Intellectual Property Office is also actively exploring the formulation of a pricing guidance service mechanism. Lin Min introduced that Zhejiang fully considered the “one-to-many” characteristics of patent open licensing, referred to the patent implementation license fee data published by the State Intellectual Property Office, combined with the historical patent transaction data, and the pilot launch of the patent open licensing pricing intelligent guidance system, etc., to provide pricing guidance for universities and research institutes. “By the end of 2022, more than 30 universities, research institutes and enterprises in the province will participate in the patent open licensing pilot, and more than 200 licensing contracts will be signed, forming a replicable and popularizable Zhejiang model and experience for the whole country.” The “Implementation Plan for the Patent Open Licensing Pilot in Zhejiang Province” issued in June this year set specific goals for patent open licensing. In just a few months, the number of universities and research institutes in the target has been nearly completed, and the number of licensing contracts has even been far exceeded. Batches of patents are rushing from universities to the market, and “laboratory results” have effectively solved “problems in the workshop.” Speaking of future plans, Lin Min said that Zhejiang will explore and form a fast licensing model that conforms to market laws, meets corporate needs, and has Zhejiang characteristics, continuously stimulate the innovation power of the whole society and the vitality of market entities, and provide pilot practice references for the smooth implementation and efficient operation of the patent open licensing system across the country, and provide strong support for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, the creation of a leading province in the construction of a strong intellectual property country, and the construction of a demonstration zone for common prosperity.
(Reporter Feng Fei)
(Source: China Intellectual Property News)
(Editor: Cao Yahui, Responsible Editor: Lv Keke, Proofreader: Cui Jingsi)
