New perspectives to evaluate patents as a part of the scientific curriculum

Abstract

During the last years the consideration of the patents as part of the scientific curriculum has been changing from the activity of technologists and researchers devoted to applied science to a fundamental part of the scientific curriculum of well-known researchers. Some time ago, patents were simply not considered in teaching evaluation at University or its equivalent at CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) and only considered as a second range parameter in the scientific evaluation. In promotion competition they have change from a marginal factor when the number of papers and their impact factor were comparable, to become a decisive factor or even a «sine qua non» condition in specific areas. As it happens to a great extent in publications, the number of patent applications is not an indicator of the quality or importance of the knowledge they present; however their monopoly of exploitation and its costs makes patents totally different and introduces variables difficult to quantify in scientific evaluation. Changes in CSIC legal structure and management definition as a Key Institution in the Spanish Innovation System and the fact of its being the most active patent applicant (5th public institution as EPO applicant), besides the changes in its Technology Transfer management, should affect the decision to patent. Its value in research activity acknowledgement requires more precise indicators to reflect «ex ante» its impact on the scientific community as well as on society welfare, because at the end of patent life its real market incidence shows the impact of the research results presented in a patent.