In recent years, China's construction of an intellectual property power has been accelerated. Ge Shu, deputy director of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office and director of the Strategic Planning Department, once introduced that by the end of 2023, the number of invention patents in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) will reach 16650,000 pieces, and the number of invention patents per 10,000 people reached 118 pieces, an increase of 5 compared with the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan".5 pcs.
Correspondingly, China's intellectual property management system has been continuously improved. Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office, together with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Natural Science Commission, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Equipment Development Department of the Military Commission, issued the "Implementation Plan for the Establishment of a Statement System for the Formation of Patents for Financially Funded Scientific Research Projects" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan").
What is the declaration system for the formation of patents for financially funded scientific research projects (hereinafter referred to as the declaration system)? What is the background and significance of the establishment of the declaration system? Experts say so.
China has been promoting the establishment of a declaration system for many years
The declaration system, in short, is that the undertaking unit of a financially funded scientific research project declares the information of the funded project to the competent authority during the application and registration process of the intellectual property rights of the project output. Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office issued an interpretation of the "Implementation Plan", which gave a concise and concise explanation of the declaration system.
From the specific operational level, the "Implementation Plan" requires that when applying for a patent for a financial scientific research project, the undertaking unit or individual of a financially funded scientific research project shall declare the project type, project name, project number and other information on which the patent application is based in the patent business handling system of the State Intellectual Property Office.
Behind the establishment of the declaration system is the brewing of many years of deliberation in the reform of the national science and technology system.
Before the promulgation of the declaration system, China has successively issued relevant regulations on the statement of output and achievement funding of various financially funded projects. In 1986, the Interim Measures for Youth Science formulated by the National Natural Science Commission clearly required that the research results obtained during the funding period should be marked according to the requirements. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Progress of Science and Technology, amended in 2007, further proposes an annual reporting system for the implementation of intellectual property protection for the results of financially funded science and technology projects. Xiao Youdan, a researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced, "In recent years, a series of scientific and technological strategic planning, legislation and policy documents have also proposed to accelerate the establishment of financial science and technology projects intellectual property information disclosure, marking or information disclosure mechanism, and promote the implementation and transformation of the results of financial funding projects." ”
From an international point of view, the establishment of rules for the labeling of intellectual property rights or the declaration of funding for the results of financially funded projects is also a common practice in the management of financially funded science and technology projects in most countries. Xiao Youdan introduced that the Bayhle Act of 1980 in the United States clearly made the disclosure of the results of the project undertaking to the federal funding agency a prerequisite for authorizing it to apply for a patent. At the same time, the Bayh-Dole Act implementation rules explicitly require the project undertaker to indicate the name of the federal funding agency and the contract number in the patent application documents.
The process of managing the results of financially funded science and technology projectsA key link
The importance of continuing to promote the establishment of a declaration system is self-evident. "The declaration system is a small cut, but it is a big system. The declaration system is a key part of the results management process of financially funded scientific and technological projects, the starting point for grasping the implementation of the transformation of financially funded scientific and technological projects, and the focus of promoting the effective transformation and application of public R&D outputs. Xiao Youdan said.
The efficiency of the transformation and implementation of public R&D output is an important part of science and technology assessment and investigation, but at present, relevant statistical data or survey conclusions in China often lack reliable and scientific statistical caliber and basis. This also shows from the side that in the process of science and technology plan management in China, there is a lack of means to describe the form of output and its tracking.
The key to solving this problem is to open up the system. Xiao Youdan introduced that in the past, the management of China's science and technology plan results and the management of intellectual property application authorization and implementation are two sets of systems, with different management bases, different content forms of management objects, and different management functions. This can lead to information asymmetry and inconsistent policy expressions. The system does not work, and the real question arises: what will become the result of the financial funding of scientific and technological projects, and what effect will it have on society......
Xiao Youdan believes that one of the reasons why it is difficult for the state to continuously track and effectively observe these problems is the lack of effective connection between financial input, output of results, and transformation and application. Therefore, the establishment of the declaration system actually builds a bridge between the three, and opens up a more accurate "observation port" for tracking the output of public R&D and the effect of transformation and application.
Xiao Youdan said that for financially funded scientific research projects with patents as a typical output, the establishment of a declaration system is conducive to the state to better understand the scale, structure and legal protection of its output. The patenting of scientific research results is also a key step in realizing the commercialization of technology and discovering the market value of the results. This means that the state can keep abreast of the overall situation of the market-oriented application and socialization of public R&D output through relevant data, so as to better respond to the society's concern about the efficiency and capacity of public R&D-related investment. In addition, the establishment of the declaration system is conducive to the relevant departments to adopt a classification and grading approach, more accurately and effectively revitalize the existing high-quality technology stock, and improve the accuracy of technology supply.
In Xiao Youdan's view, although the declaration system is only one part of the whole chain of results management, it can make the results management of national science and technology projects and the transformation of public R&D output achievements enter a more systematic and refined stage. For example, tracking the licensing and transfer of patents produced by financially funded projects will help establish a more accurate and reliable monitoring system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The implementation of the declaration system requires the cooperation of the four parties
The key to the effectiveness of any system lies in its implementation. In Xiao Youdan's view, the implementation of the declaration system generally involves four relevant parties: the science and technology decision-making department, the project management department, the intellectual property department and the project undertaker.
For science and technology decision-making departments, it is necessary to make good use of the declaration system, give full play to the role of the intellectual property system as a governance tool in science and technology management, improve the quality of public R&D output, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and optimize the efficiency of financial investment in science and technology. In addition, the protection of intellectual property rights is also related to the protection of intellectual property rights, therefore, the science and technology decision-making departments should also apply the declaration system to maintain the security of key core technologies.
For the project management department, in order to further promote the implementation of the declaration system, it is necessary to further refine the implementation rules or operating rules of the patent declaration according to the characteristics of different financial assistance projects, the characteristics of R&D activities, and the requirements of project management, combined with the actual situation of patent declaration management. "For example, the relationship between the patent application statement and the annual report and information exchange of the project's intellectual property rights, and the relationship between the final acceptance requirements. I think there should be clearer guidance for project undertakers and researchers. Xiao Youdan said.
For the intellectual property department, it is necessary to further improve the public information service platform related to the declaration system, incorporate the patents of financial assistance projects into the whole process of intellectual property management, and form a complete set of plans for the application, examination, authorization, application, transformation and protection of patents. "In the future, in the specific implementation link, there may also be a lack of microcirculation. The IP sector also needs to adjust in a timely manner to make the declaration system better implemented. Xiao Youdan said, "It is also necessary to make more use of information and intelligent means to reduce the cost of declaration and filling." ”
For the undertaker of the project, on the one hand, it is necessary to implement the declaration system in strict accordance with the "Implementation Plan", and on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the knowledge training of relevant personnel, form a unified understanding, and minimize the problems that may be encountered in the process of filling in.
*:Technology**.