Assessing R&D Performance by Patents
Assessing R&D Performance by Patents
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  • 승인 2005.03.01 12:01
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Jong-Kap Kim, commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)
As patents become the core of corporate competitiveness, efficient management of patents as well as ceaseless technology innovation is now deemed to be indispensable for corporations to survive the fierce new technological competition. Jong-Kap Kim, commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) says in a special interview with The Korea IT Times, "The government, universities, and public research institutions have to redirect their R&D effort toward winning patents." The commissioner believes patents could play a pivotal role in achieving a per capita national income of $20,000, pointing out that the government, universities, and public research institutions must lock onto the idea that R&D success is judged by the number and quality of patents acquired. He adds that companies in advanced countries regard patents as a measure to assess R&D performance. The Korea IT Times is pleased to publish the following interview article with Commissioner Kim about the importance of patents, the Office's international patent strategy, and the potential contribution of patents to accomplishing national income goal of $20,000 per capita. Q: First off, please explain the importance of a patent. A: Korea economy has got to the stage where further growth cannot be expected without ceaseless development of front-runner technologies that can be patented internationally. In this respect, patents can play a key role in achieving the national goal of per capital income of $20,000, as has been mapped out by the Participatory Government. It is time for us to focusing our capacity to develop technologies that can be patented all over the world. However, there are some alarming data. In the case of universities, the number of patents they produced is no more than 0.5 percent of total domestic patent applications, whereas the R&D budget they spent accounts for 10 percent the entire domestic R&D budget. Similarly, public research institutes produced only 2.9 percent of total domestic patents while they spent 14 percent of the entire domestic R&D budget. In that respect, I believe, universities and public research institutes should redirect their R&D policy and concentrate their R&D capacity to projects that can produce internationally patentable technologies. In short, acquisition of patents should be the raison d'etre of universities and public research institutions. Q: What are some of the trends in regard to domestic patent application A: Last year, the number of patent applications increased as much as 17.4% compared with the previous year. It shows a more drastic increase in this year -- the number of patents filed in January of 2005 has increased as much as 34% compared with the same month of 2004. Information technology and electronics industry is leading the growth of patent applications, accounting for 60% of total growth of patent applications. Noticeably, IT-led growth of patent applications shows a positive attempt to orient industrial development toward a IT-based society. Q: Presently, what policies is KIPO advancing to improve quality of patent applications A: The government R&D budget accounts for 26% of the entire national R &D budget. Our task at KIPO is to direct R&D funds to be efficiently used to produce more quality patents. For this, it is important for the government to work out an indicator for assessing the performance of R&D projects in terms of patents. In this regard, I would suggest that the government benchmark the R&D policies and patent trends of other industrialized countries. In the case of private companies, they spend roughly 74% of domestic R&D funds. Leading corporations such as Samsung and LG seem doing well in their efforts to effectively acquire and manage their patents. Smaller companies, on the other hand, don't know which R&D niche they should attempt to fill. To help those companies lacking R&D planning ability to perform well in their research efforts, KIPO is already providing its patent technology database of 30 million items open to the public with no charge. This year, we are planning to expand the data base to 40 million items. As I commented, the R&D performance of universities and public research institutes in terms of patents acquired is unsatisfactory for their consumption of 24% of domestic R&D funds. It is critical, therefore, to create the circumstances in which smaller companies, universities and public research institutes can produce high quality patents as a result of R&D. To do this, this year we will make every effort to strengthen Internet education, distribute patent information guide books, and to create the atmosphere such as free use of our DB -- which facilitates the development of more high quality patents. Q: We understand that KIPO recently launched its cutting-edge patent administration information system (KIPOnet II), which provides a 24-7 service. What's the significance of KIPOnet II A: With KIPOnet II system, we have developed an automated patent administration system which is one of the most sophisticated in the world. The system has given us the momentum to develop an even more sophisticated information processing system that can boost the nation's R&D efficiency. KIPOnet II is also expected to enable KIPO to shorten its patent pendency period and to enhance the quality of examinations at the same time. In order to facilitate the commercialization of patented technology, we are trying to expedite the examination of patent applications, especially in view of the ever-shortening life cycles of many products. At the end of last year, the patent pendency period was 21 months. With the aid of KIPOnet II, This will be shortened to 10 months to help speed up the commercialization of corporate patents and the quality of examinations will be enhanced up to the level of the United States. Q: Lastly, what do you think the attitude toward patents should be when it comes to assessing R&D results A: Domestic R&D efforts must be geared to making money by acquiring patents. They can then help the nation attain a national per capita income of $20,000. To make this scenario work, the efficiency of R&D must be guaranteed. In this regard, I believe that patents can be a useful barometer to assess such R&D performance. Therefore, the government, universities, and all public research institutes should change the way they assess R&D results. Hopefully, their ambitions will be focused on the acquisition of quality patents.

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