FAPESP is among the largest patent filers in Brazil, according to study

A Thomson Reuters report outlines the technological innovation and scientific production environment in Brazil.

By Noêmia Lopes

Agência FAPESP – From 2003 to 2012, FAPESP registered 140 patents, a number that puts the foundation in sixth place in the ranking of the top ten Brazilian organizations by number of inventions.

Those are the findings published in the report Brazil – The Current Challenges of Innovation, the a result of a study conducted by the information group Thomson Reuters, released September 17 during the Workshop on Innovation and Intellectual Property: the Impact on Growth in Brazil, an event sponsored by the National Industrial Property Institute (INPI), Thomson Reuters and the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in São Paulo.

The study also listed the holders of the most patents in 2011. FAPESP was 38th on the list, holding the fourth most patents in the country.

“Both rankings reflect the growth in support to small innovative companies in São Paulo State under the Innovative Research in Small Business (PIPE),” commented Sérgio Robles Reis de Queiroz, adjunct coordinator of Research for Innovation at FAPESP.

According to Queiroz, the number represents only a portion of the patents granted based on FAPESP funding, because the patent belongs to the funding agency only when grants or fellowships are granted to researchers. In other situations, companies are the patent holders.

In the 2011 ranking, the top two spots went to the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), with 51 and 42 patents, respectively.

“A part of the projects that generated these patents also may have received resources from FAPESP,” said Queiroz, referring to the FAPESP’s University-Industry Cooperative Research (PITE).

Unicamp figures second in the 2003-2012 ranking with 395, behind only Petrobras (450). USP appears in third place with 284.

“The fact that public institutions are the main patent holders in Brazil reveals the fragility of private companies in occupying these places, which is common in other countries around the globe,” said Queiroz.

Thomson Reuters cites the difficulty of creating market opportunities given that the processing times for patents can be up to 8 years, meaning that technology can become obsolete before a patent is even granted.

The report also indicates a growth trend in Brazilian innovation. From 2003 to 2008, patent requests in Brazil increased 26% (based on priority patent requests). In 2009, the number of patent requests dropped to the 2003 level, a decline attributed to the global economic recession. Since 2009, the number of patent requests has begun to increase, reaching a number 12% more than the number in 2003.

Digital computers, natural products, automotive technology and home appliances are among the main categories of patents granted in the last decade. Despite the marked increase, Brazil’s performance in obtaining patents still lags far behind countries such as China, which saw its patent activity grow by 600% between 2003 and 2011.

All the data related to patents were obtained from the Thomson Reuters Derwent World Patents Index database (DWPISM).

Scientific research

The scientific production scenario in Brazil – another aspect of the Thomson Reuters study – was investigated with the help of an international citation indexing and search service called the Web of Knowledge.

In 2012, Brazilian scientists published 46,795 scientific articles in periodicals catalogued by the Thomson Reuters Science Citation Index, putting Brazil in 14th place (down one place from five years before).

Among the technological areas in which Brazil has been most scientifically productive are clinical medicine, plant and animal sciences, agrarian sciences, chemistry and physics.

Citing the most recent Science Report published by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), dated 2010, the Thomson Reuters study also mentions that 90% of Brazil’s scientific research articles came from public universities and that the number of people with doctorates grew from 554 in 1981 to 10,711 in 2008.