A new study shows that 40% of ERC-funded projects already generated research that was subsequently cited in patents – and this number is even expected to rise.
On January 19, the European Research Council (ERC) informed about the results of a study assessing the Influence of ERC-funded Research. The new analysis shows that more than 40% of ERC-funded projects generated research that was subsequently cited in patents. The study was conducted by a group of researchers based at the University of Bologna and Fondazione Bruno Kessler and was commissioned by the ERC as one of the measures to assess the impact of its funding beyond science. Concretely, the study aims to answer how and to what extent the discoveries described by ERC grantees in scientific publications inspired new technologies presented in patent applications.
The final report was published on 11 November 2022 and is based on data retrieved from 6’671 ERC-funded projects from all scientific domains, including all projects funded from 2007 until 2014. The study identified 172’683 scientific publications linked to these projects and 34’513 patent applications, citing those publications as references in their non-patent literature section. They also analysed 1’550 patent applications directly reported to the ERC by the grantees as an outcome of 700 of the 6’671 ERC projects.
The rate of projects exerting influence on patents varies between the different disciplines. For example, in the field of life science, 61% of life science projects are cited in patent applications, while in social sciences and humanities, only 7%. In general, in technology fields closer to the science frontier and in areas where the industry has a greater science-based R&D orientation (e.g. Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computer technology, organic fine chemistry, measurement, and semiconductors), patents with links to ERC-funded research appeared more often. However, the study also found evidence that patent citations to ERC-funded research often flow across technological fields, confirming the assumption of widespread diffusion of frontier research results.
The total number of patent registrations linked to the ERC is even expected to increase in the coming years since the majority of cited publications from ERC-funded research were related to grants from the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) and not to Horizon 2020 (H2020): In FP7, 52% of the projects were cited by at least one patent application, in H2020, only 28.7%. Also, under FP7, 29.4% of 4’556 projects between 2008 and 2016 led to self-reported Patent applications and 10.1% to granted patents, while under H2020, only 10.5% of 2’115 projects between 2014 and 2016, led to self-reported Patent applications and 2.4% to granted patents. These numbers confirm that it usually takes time for science to influence technology and promote innovation. Considering this time lag between the research results and patent applications, the number of patents linked to H2020 projects funded by the ERC is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.
Most of the patents citing ERC-funded publications (around 50%) are owned by private companies. However, a significant share of these patents is still owned (or co-owned) by universities and research organisations. This contrasts with the ownership pattern of self-reported patents. In these cases, universities (48%) and research institutes (23%) play a dominant role as applicants. In comparison, private companies only appear in 15% of all cases as owners or co-owner of self-reported patents. Another study from 2022 shows that more than 10% of the ERC-funded researchers who responded to the corresponding survey said they had either created companies, transferred the results of their research to pre-existing companies, or both. Among the recipients of ERC Proof of Concept Grants, this tendency towards academic entrepreneurship is much higher – with half of them engaging in knowledge-transfer activities.
To further the transfer from frontier research to the market, the ERC has already in 2009 established a Working Group on Innovation and relations with industry. This Working Group investigates appropriate means to engage industrial partners in frontier research and to demonstrate the ERC’s contribution to the European economy. In general, knowledge valorisation is a high priority for the EU (see SwissCore article), as the Council Recommendations on the guiding principles for knowledge valorisation adopted in November 2022 show. With these principles, the EU aims to improve the social and economic use and value of science by better supporting the transformation of data and research results into tangible products and solutions. The EU also aims to improve the synergies between the different support schemes for innovation and research (see SwissCore article), including deepening synergies between the ERC and the European Innovation Council (EIC).