DAEJEON, KOREA — Korea’s national research and development efforts proved to be the world’s best in both quality and quantity. According to the April 3rd issue of intellectual property magazine, IP Today, ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research institutions, President Kim Heung-nam) ranked first above other renowned research institutions, universities, and governments around the world for the 2011 Innovation Anchor Scorecard that measures patent activities. To be on top of the list means that they “act as a magnet for talent, a focal point for ongoing leading edge research and a center to share ideas,” the publication explained.
IP Todays’ scorecard was based on the patent assessment conducted by the US Patent Board. Every year, the Board evaluates and publishes the ranks and analysis of the technology and patent competence of companies, research institutions, universities, and governments all over the world in terms of their patents registered in the US.
In particular, the 2011 assessment was the first that integrated all 237 institutions from different fields. This differed from the previous method in which the board divided them into three categories: research institutions, universities, and government institutions – highlighting the achievement of the ETRI as a result. The ETRI has already topped the board’s list that rated more than 40 government institutions, consecutively in 2009 and 2010.
The Patent Board said the ranking of the 2011 Innovation Anchor Score card was decided by ‘Technology Strength’ that evaluates overall qualitative competence of patents including technology strength. On the other hand, it is also determined by the Industry Impact, the influential power of an institution’s patent portfolio on technological progress of others, and Patent Count. This time around, the scorecard was published with the Innovation Cycle Time to show the technological change and the progress of the institutions.
ETRI scored the highest in Technology Strength (364.09), Patent Count (537), and Innovation Cycle Time. The institute turned out to lead the global technology innovation with its 7.5-year innovation cycle time, shorter than any other institution on the list.
The achievement was enabled by ETRI’s strategic intellectual property management: the institute has set up a separate taskforce to concentrate on promoting intellectual property management, and is placing emphasis on the qualitative growth of their patents. As part of this effort, the institute has enhanced invention assessments with the ‘invention rating system,’ while the ’1-1-1 campaign’ encourages each researcher to come up with one idea for global innovation every year. Furthermore, they are working to create standard patents by cooperating with international standardization organizations like ITU, ISO, and IEEE, as well as establishing policies that require joining and managing patent pools.
“As you can see in the recent patent war between Apple and Samsung,” Kim Heungnam, president of ETRI, said, “competitive strength of patent technology in this technology-based age is related to not only the survival of a company but also national competence.” He added, “ETRI’s accomplishment is substantial in that it showed the excellence of Korea’s national research and development outcomes to the rest of the world.”
Meanwhile, the University of California (US) ranked second on the list, followed by ITRI (Taiwan), MIT (US), and the US Navy. Germany’s top research institution, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, took 10th place.
Patent Board is a business name of ipIQ, a US patent data consulting firm founded in 1968 that developed a high standard in the science and technology field, analyzes relevant trends, and assesses patent and science strength of patents in the field. The organization has conducted various analyses and research on patent data in association with the US National Science Foundation, and gained its global reputation by developing the most industries related to current patents and research paper citation used for patent data analyses.
Currently, Patent Board’s patent assessment is utilized by Fortune 500 companies to analyze their own and rivals’ patent portfolios while establishing technology strategies. The Wall Street Journal is providing the real-time patent scorecard regarding 17 industries for investment purposes via online Market Data Center.
