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New Womb-Like Invention for Preterm Infants.

Reversing Paralysis: Can I Walk Again?

NUS Researchers Create Palm-Size Device for Quick, Effective Treatment of Common Hearing Disorder.

World Asthma Day: Managing and Living with Asthma.

DARZALEX^® (daratumumab) Available in Singapore, Following Accelerated Approval by the Health Sciences Authority.

Managing Liver Cancer as a Global Health Problem.

Bayer and NUS Enterprise Announce Winners of Grants4Apps^® Singapore Open Innovation Challenge.

Exclusive Interviews with the Grants4Apps^® winners: I. EyeDEA, Singapore, II. GlycoLeap by Holmusk, Singapore and III. PillPocket, Thailand.

Does international R&D collaboration produce patents of higher technological value? Applied to the case of Siemens, this paper utilizes the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Google Patents statistics to identify patterns within invention and co-invention. For example, sole patenting by headquarters or subsidiaries is juxtaposed with co-invented patent filings, vertical versus horizontal co-patented applications and internal versus external. The paper compares the effect of different forms of co-invention on the technological value of patent filings, proxied by forward external citations. The results are based on 2013 and 2019 Siemens PCT data and confirm the positive effect of international co-invention, vis-à-vis sole patenting, on the technological value of patents. Patent applications co-invented by foreign subsidiaries, or vertically collaborated applications, create higher technological value, while headquarters or single subsidiaries generate fewer forward citations. Moreover, co-patenting by subsidiaries with external partners creates higher technological value than sole patenting by headquarters. Siemens has recognized the value of partnerships with outside inventors and leveraged these relationships in order to generate higher technological value. We contribute by building a unique and detailed classification of co-patenting patterns, and the paper develops a strong case for cross-country co-patenting, especially with external partners. From a managerial perspective, international co-patenting involving external partners has strategic value and must be fostered.

Patent aggregating companies are institutions that aggregate patents for different purposes. From a managerial perspective as well as a theoretical perspective, it is interesting to understand what value such novel business models provide to inventing companies. In this paper we focus on the question how patent holders can use patent aggregating companies as means to capture value from their inventions. Therefore the business models of patent aggregating companies need to be understood. Existing literature lacks a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the patent aggregating companies' business models. The empirical data presented and discussed in this article was collected over a five-year (2009–2014) period in semi-structured interviews with patent aggregating companies' incorporating personnel and in an extensive analysis of secondary data. We conclude our study by identifying four groups of patent aggregating companies based on the values provided to the original patent holders: the guarders, the shielders, the funders and the earners.

This paper examined the nonlinear R&D-innovation relationships of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and the differences in the strength and productivity of R&D investment between low-, medium-, and high-tech industry sectors. Using 2740 firm data in South Korea, this study found that R&D investment has an inverted U-shaped relationship with registered patents such that patents increase at a decreasing rate as R&D investment increases. The relationship between R&D investment and innovative sales resulting from R&D investment in manufacturing SMEs also exhibits an inverted U-shaped form. The R&D-innovation relationship of SMEs in high-tech sectors is more strengthened such that the optimal level of R&D investment in high-tech sectors is higher than those for SMEs in low-tech sectors. This study also demonstrated that the R&D-innovation relationship for high-tech sectors is more flattened so that the diminishing returns to R&D investment is weakened with the increase of technological intensity of industry sectors.

This paper identifies over 50,000 patents filed worldwide in various water-related technologies between 1990 and 2010, distinguishing between those related to availability (supply) and conservation (demand) technologies. Patenting activity is analyzed — including inventive activity by country and technology, international diffusion of such water-related technologies, and international collaboration in technology development. Three results stand out from our analysis. First, although inventive activity in water-related technologies has been increasing over the last two decades, this growth has been disproportionately concentrated on supply-side technologies. Second, whilst 80% of water-related invention occurs worldwide in countries with low or moderate water scarcity, several countries with absolute or chronic water scarcity are relatively specialized in water efficiency technologies. Finally, although we observe a positive association between water scarcity and local filings of water patents, some countries with high water availability, in particular Switzerland or Norway, nevertheless appear as significant markets for water-efficiency technologies. This suggests that drivers other than local demand, like regulation and social and cultural factors, play a role in explaining the global flows of technologies.

Patent aggregating companies are institutions that aggregate patents for different purposes. From a managerial perspective as well as a theoretical perspective, it is interesting to understand what value such novel business models provide to inventing companies. In this paper we focus on the question how patent holders can use patent aggregating companies as means to capture value from their inventions. Therefore the business models of patent aggregating companies need to be understood. Existing literature lacks a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the patent aggregating companies’ business models. The empirical data presented and discussed in this article was collected over a five-year (2009–2014) period in semi-structured interviews with patent aggregating companies’ incorporating personnel and in an extensive analysis of secondary data. We conclude our study by identifying four groups of patent aggregating companies based on the values provided to the original patent holders: the guarders, the shielders, the funders and the earners.

As intellectual property (IP) rights are costly and difficult to acquire and enforce, it is often argued that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are disadvantaged in their ability to utilize IP rights (IPR). Semi-structured interviews are used to provide an understanding of the IPR use by private inventors and SMEs as compared to larger companies. Interviews show that, excluding large companies, the general knowledge of the global patent system and capabilities to operate with various IPRs is modest. Especially, private inventors have unjustified high expectations of economic benefits of patenting, and eventually, disappointment with IPR. Lack of knowledge and awareness in IP generation, protection, and utilization weakens the performance of SMEs with missing processes, lack of IP/IPR strategy, and poor management of complex patent information. A classification of companies based on their knowledgeability and experiences in IPR is proposed.

The aim of our job is to deal with the problem that experience dependence situation is often occur during the contradiction formulization stage at the beginning of innovation by using TRIZ. The cause of problem mention above is analyzed, the deficiencies of classical TRIZ is descript. Furthermore, ENV model of OTSM-TRIZ is introduced, as well as contradiction's overcoming framework based on ENV model (ENV framework). Finally, a contradiction overcoming flowchart based on ENV model is proposed. The proposal flowchart supports the problem expression and decomposition according to ENV model, and guides the principles concreting process based on ENV framework. A threaded-shaft design case is used to validate the proposal method.