Protecting university research and ensuring that the results are transferred to society, the pending subjects of the centres
DNA synthesis reactions (in vitro) that use modified phi 29 DNA polymerase and a DNA fragment that encodes said polymerase. This is what the CSIC team led by Margarita Salas called in 1989 what to date is the most profitable patent that Spanish research has given: a protein capable of amplifying and duplicating DNA.
Yes. Profitable. You read that right. From 2003 to 2009, the period in which said patent was 100% exploited, royalties exceeded 6 million euros, that is, half of the income received by the CSIC (in its capacity as owner) at that time.
The discovery of the renowned Asturian biochemistry explains two realities that currently occur in the R&D&I departments of Spanish universities and research centres: that science can be and is profitable, even the most basic research. ; and that it is necessary to protect the work done through patents – even before publishing – so that others cannot obtain financial or reputational credits without first acquiring the well-known license.
It must be remembered that Salas did patent the molecule – in the United States and through the United Status Biochemical Corporation, which would obtain the first exploitation license – but it was Kary Mullis who received, in 1993, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for inventing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in part, thanks to the findings and publications made by the Spanish researcher and her team.
«In Spain there has always been a lack of patentability culture. Surely, because the researcher does not know whether or not his discovery can be patented. To do this, the invention must meet three basic requirements: it must be novel; not obvious to another expert and able to be manufactured industrially», says Celia Sánchez-Ramos, who in addition to being a professor and researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid, is one of the most prolific inventors of the world in the field of vision. It has 17 families of patents, nine of which protect the eye from excess light.
However, the case of Sánchez Ramos is something almost unusual in research departments. According to the latest report from the European Patent Office, and with 26 patent applications, the Autonomous University of Barcelona would lead the list of Spanish academic campuses throughout last year.
“We must understand that science is not an expense, but an investment”
And if the focus is on the scientific production of the institutions and its application in products exploited via patents, which is the methodology used by Thomson Reuters to prepare the ranking of the 100 Most Innovative Universities in Europe in 2017, it would be necessary to move to position 63 to find the first Spanish center: The University of Barcelona (UB).
«The researcher has always been told that what he has to do is publish. Not only to Spanish ones, to everyone. The difference is that the idea that it was necessary to patent began 20 years ago in the Anglo-Saxon countries, and it is starting here now. Patenting is expensive, and if it is done in several countries, even more so», acknowledges Manuel Fuertes, an expert in technology transfer for the University of Oxford and founding partner of the British fund manager Kiatt, who affirms that Spain has one of the best quarries of scientific research. «And if a large part of the papers published in prestigious scientific journals were patented, we could be among the top 10 countries in the world”» adds Celia Sánchez-Ramos.
In any case, Fuertes insists that the transfer from the service economy to the knowledge economy has already begun and Spain must value the science that is created in laboratories and openly declare its profitability.
«We must understand that science is not an expense, but an investment. And it must be the countries that get involved and recognise the importance of protecting their discoveries», suggests Fuertes, for whom it is essential to provide more resources to the technology transfer offices so that they can sell all the knowledge that comes from the University. «If researchers had to do this, we would lose great scientists and create bad salespeople or entrepreneurs», assumes Manuel Fuertes, and confirms Celia Sánchez-Ramos: «We don’t know how to market. It is necessary that State institutions become more involved in uniting science and industry, especially because, for example, there are many SMEs that want to innovate but do not have the means to do so», highlights the UCM professor, for whom there is an urgent need for clear policy that addresses innovation. «Talent and ideas are being wasted».
In this sense, optimism would have to be located, and hardly so, through a microscope. The draft Law on the General State Budgets, according to the recent report by the Federation of Technology Centres of Spain, is not aligned with current needs. As Fuertes points out, neither are the university study programs, which is what companies are really looking for. Both experts give spin-offs an indispensable role in the future. Not only as a means with which to locate companies and industries that are interested in research to transfer knowledge to the market, as Professor Sánchez-Ramos suggests, but also as an object of investment.
«In the current ecosystem it is more important to look not at rankings or the quantity of patents, but at their quality. In addition to whether a spin off continues two years after its birth. This can be very attractive for a company that wants to invest in science», concludes Manuel Fuertes.
