Financing Knowledge Transfer in Europe

FinKT project

Federico Munari

Department of Management, Bologna University

federico.munari@unibo.it

EIBURS meeting, EIB

Luxembourg, 24 January 2013

Slide 1 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

Objectives of the FinKT project

(“Financing Knowledge Transfer in Europe”)

Overall goal: analyse the financial instruments and the forms of partnerships

between financial investors and universities/PROs that can facilitate

technology transfer in Europe

The project is undertaken by the Department of Management of the

University of Bologna, in collaboration with Bocconi University (Duration: Mar

2012-Feb 2015)

The project is funded by the European Investment Bank, under the EIBURS

measure

Project website: finkt.unibo.it

Slide 2 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

Structure of the FinKT project

» 4 Work-Packages on Research activities

WP 1: The institutional context for technology transfer and IP finance

in Europe: a multi-country comparison

WP 2: The determinants of IP exploitation of universities and PROs:

licensing, patent sale and start-ups

WP 3: The design and impact of financial instruments for technology

transfer

WP 4: Policy guidelines

» 2 Work-Packages on Training and dissemination activities

WP 5: Summer School

WP 6: Diffusion activities

Slide 3 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

Empirical / methodological aspects

Extensive coverage:

Multi-country perspective: analysis of all the main European Member States which implemented

experiences of technology transfer financing;

Different mechanisms for technology transfer: sale and licensing of patents generated from

universities, and the creation of new academic spin-offs;

Different types of financial instruments: university seed funds, designed to provide equity

financing to new ventures stemming from universities, and patent-backed financial instruments,

such as proof-of-concept funds, IP and royalty funds, designed to valorize specific IP assets.

Combination of different methodological approaches:

econometric techniques on survey-data or newly developed datasets on venture-backed spin-offs

qualitative techniques, based on the realization of case-studies related to different experiences of

technology transfer financing

Slide 4 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

WP1: The institutional context for technology transfer and IP

finance in Europe: a multi-country comparison

Review and updated map of university IPR laws and rules in the main

European countries

Assessment of the consequences for the involvement of financial investors in

technology transfer

Understanding incentive mechanisms of academics and researchers and the

diversity of institutional logics of industry work, that may represent barriers to

TT activities

Map and analysis of policy measures established in Europe to support TT

investing, with specific attention to: a) direct financial support (i.e. patent

subsidies); b) support for partnerships between universities and financial

investors (i.e. patent funds)

Slide 5 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

WP2: The determinants of IP exploitation of universities and PROs:

licensing, patent sale and start-ups

Analyses of the determinants of different means for TT by universities and

PROs: patent licensing, patent sale, spin-offs (and commercialization in

products and processes).

Assessment of the differential impact of relevant factors on joint or

alternative means for TT

Determinants of willingness to TT vs. actual decisions of TT: assessment of

obstacles and facilitating factors for IP markets

Many unused patents, but willing to be used: how to exploit these patents?

What are the barriers/difficulties to access technology markets? Higher

barriers to licensing than spin-offs?

Assessment of the impact of type of funding and partnerships on intentions

and actual decisions of patent licensing, patent sale and spin-offs

The commercialization of patents by university and PROs – an analysis based

on data from the Patval II survey

• Objectives

• Understand whether and how the ownership of IPRs by

universities and PROs affect their subsequent commercialization

by considering three exploitation routes:

• Patent sales

• Licensing

• Spin-off formation

• Empirical evidence from a sample of 1297 EPO patents with

inventors employed by universities and PROs in 23 countries

6

Ownership patterns of University/PRO patents

7

Authors Giuri and Munari, 2012 Giuri and Munari, 2012 Crespi et al., 2010

N. Countries 23 6 6

Priority dates 2003-2005 2003-2005 1993-1997

% University Owned 44% 45% 18%

% University Invented 56% 55% 82%

% PRO Owned 76% 85% 42%

% PRO Invented 24% 15% 58%

1. With respect to the paper by Crespi et al, (2010), we find a

significant increase in the shares of patents owned by universities

and PROs

Patent ownership and commercialization outcomes: descriptive statistics

8

All patents Sale License Spin-off External Use

University/PRO Owned 8.32% 27.59% 14.54% 35.89%

University/PRO Invented 13.15% 17.95% 15.93% 34.85%

Total 10.32% 23.71% 15.13% 35.47%

Only University patents Sale License Spin-off External Use

University Owned 14.39% 36.98% 23.30% 48.43%

University Invented 15.02% 17.37% 15.21% 36.73%

Total 14.71% 27.29% 19.05% 42.69%

Only PRO patents Sale License Spin-off External Use

PRO Owned 2.21% 19.13% 5.71% 23.50%

PRO Invented 7.35% 17.39% 13.33% 25.81%

Total 3.40% 18.73% 7.50% 24.01%

Slide 9 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

WP3:The design and impact of financial instruments

for technology transfer

Map and analysis of University Seed Funds established in Europe

» Study of the success rates of academic spin-offs backed by USFs, as

compared to other VC-backed new ventures.

» Analysis of the impact of the type of affiliation and investment strategies

of USFs

Map and classification of the proof-of-concept funds established in Europe

for technology transfer

» Understand under which conditions they can be effectively exploited

» Identify critical success factor in their design and implementation

Mapping University Seed Funds and Proof-of-concept Funds in Europe:

initial evidence (based on Thomson One and Internet searches)

10

19

11

6 5

4 3 3

2 2 1 1 1 1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

(n=59)

Distribution of USF

202

76

50 47 28

15 14 10 9 6 4 4 2 2 2 1

0

50

100

150

200

250(n=472)

Distribution of companies

funded by USF

3 3 3

1 1 1

12

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

(n=24)

Distribution of PoC

funds

Slide 11 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

WP4: Policy guidelines

Implications for Policy measures on:

• Financial support to universities and TTOs and partnerships between financial investors and universities

• Functioning of IP markets and participation of research organizations: analysis of impediments and facilitating factors, including financial instruments and supporting institutions

• Optimal structuring of university seed funds programs, setting up of patent-based financial instruments

• improving the organization of public-private partnerships between government and regional authorities, universities and research centers and financial institutions, aimed at enhancing technology transfer activities.

• improving the design and implementation of publicly-supported financial instruments to promote technology transfer

Slide 12 July 6, 2012 KTSP meeting, EIB, Paris FINKT project

Main training and dissemination activities

Workshop (1st year) for discussing the themes of the FinKT project with academics, invited experts in the field from Europe, including representatives of TTOs, financial intermediaries, EIB/EIF.

» Objective: insights from experts and assessment of the FinKT prokect activities, work in progress, preliminary results and future plans

workshop (2nd year) oriented to TTOs in Europe, financial intermediaries (including VC) and other institutions involved in TT operations

» Involvement of Netval, Proton and other relevant networks

Summer school on Economics and Management of IPRs (2nd year): directed to Phd students and other interested people, with the participation of academics expert in the field (including the FinKT team), EIB and other experts from relevant institutions (June 2013)

Organization of a parallel or plenary session within the 2013 EPIP conference on IP legal and regulatory system / financial instruments and TT

Final Conference (3rd year) on financing TT, with call for papers and a round table with invited policy makers

Contacts and project website

Project website: finkt.unibo.it

- Paola Giuri, paola.giuri@unibo.it

- Federico Munari, federico.munari@unibo.it