Adamson University

Civil Engineering Department

Case Study 4-Creating an

Innovative Environment with
Licensing & Insulating a
Nation's Homes
CE 308-Intellectual Property
Submitted by:
Moton, John Kyle
Lopez, Matthew Chandler
Aguirre, John Mark

Submitted to:
Dr. Tomas U. Ganiron, Jr
Creating an Innovative
Environment with Licensing and
Technology Transfer
Inova Unicamp Innovation
Agency

Country / Territory: Brazil

IP right(s): Patents, Trademarks

Date of publication: October 14, 2010

Last update: September 16, 2015

Inova Unicamp Innovation
Agency
• Internationally recognized for its excellence in teaching and research,
the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil is a leading public
institution based in Campinas, São Paulo.
• Inova’s goal is to strengthen partnerships between Unicamp and
companies, government agencies and other organizations to create
teaching and research opportunities that will contribute to the
economic and social development of Brazil.
• Among Inova’s wide range of activities, many are related to the
innovations developed at Unicamp by over 2,000 researchers
throughout its 22 campus research centers.
IP Management

• Unicamp’s history with IP began in 1989, when it filed its first three
patent applications with Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial
Property (INPI)
• Interest in IP and cooperation between universities and companies
have been steadily increasing in Brazil.
• The surge in interest of utilizing the research capabilities of
universities, Inova has deemed it essential to secure IP rights (IPRs)
for practically all of its innovations.
IP Management

• The Faculty of Medical Sciences had filed 33 patent applications and

signed four licensing agreements by the end of 2008
• Unicamp had filed only one international patent application; by the
end of 2008, it had filed 32.
• Unicamp’s Institute of Chemistry has gone the furthest in
implementing what it has learned about the importance of protecting
IP, and by 2008 it had filed 214 patent applications.
IP Management

• Professor Fernando Galembeck, the main inventor of two licensed

out technologies said that "if we don't have patents and we don't
license them, inventions won't be transformed into real commercial
products and processes. And if we only publish the results, we will
have to pay tomorrow for the fruits of our own work"
Patents and Trademarks

• Twenty years after Unicamp’s first patent application, the university

has filed nearly 600 patent applications at INPI, a vast majority of
which can be attributed to the efforts of Inova.
• With the help of Inova, as of late 2010 Unicamp had filed 22
international applications.
• They registered thirteen trademarks and secured authorship of ten
computer programs.
• Inova continues to file patent applications, and in February 2010 filed
an international application for a new salmonella vaccine.
Medical Devices and Products can
be Patentable
• Devices and products for practicing medical methods can be
patentable, but the methods themselves are not patentable. This is
partly because a patent must not prevent doctors from curing and
preventing illnesses and partly because the methods can have
different effects on different patients. Therefore, they are not
reproducible.
Licensing

• A major focus of Inova’s activities is the licensing out of its developed

technologies to companies and other public or private entities.
• Licensing focuses primarily on the technology transfer of brands,
patents and computer software.
Products based on technologies
licensed out by the Unicamp
• A test to identify the main cause of genetic deafness in newborn
babies.
• A phytotherapeutic medicine, produced from a substance found in
soybeans, to treat menopausal symptoms.
• A polymer-clay nanocomposite that can be used as raw material for a
wide range of products.
• A reagent for in-situ and ex-situ destruction of environmental
contaminants.
Research and Development and
Partnerships

• Because Inova is primarily focused on technology transfer, fostering

innovative R&D, assisting Unicamp’s researchers in the licensing of
innovations and building strong partnerships between companies and
organizations in the public and private sectors is of significant
importance.
• One such example was a technology invented by Professor Licio
Velloso of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.
• Injection of funds such as these serve a twofold purpose: first, it
allows Unicamp’s researchers to continue innovating, and second, it
gives Inova new technologies to use to develop new partnerships.
Business Results

• The creation of Inova has brought many tangible benefits to Unicamp.

Licensing out technologies brought in much needed revenue, and by
the end of 2008 the five technologies that were commercialized in
Brazil earned the university some R$ 900,000 in royalties.
• The university’s efforts into technology transfer caught the attention of
the Brazilian government, and in 2008 it received state funding for a
new Research and Innovation Hub at the main campus in Campinas.
• Beyond financial gains, Inova has revitalized many of Unicamp’s
research facilities.
Business Results

• Inova’s licensing and technology transfer scheme changed all that,

and research centers are seeing their technologies commercialized
with real social benefits
• Inova’s success has also allowed the university to help other public
science and technology institutions in Brazil establish technology
transfer systems through its “InovaNIT” project.
Insulating a Nation's Homes
IG Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Country / Territory: Japan

IP right(s): Patents

Date of publication: February 14, 2011

Last update: July 10, 2012

IG Kogyo Co., Ltd.

• After working for many years as a carpenter specializing in building

shrines and temples in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, Mr. Takashi
Ishikawa grew concerned at the rising death rate in the region due to
cerebral stroke.
Idea of the Invention
Patent Information

• Mr. Ishikawa went to the Japan Patent Office (JPO)

• He discovered that urethane is made by adding a foaming agent to
resin materials called polyol and polyisocianate and then mixing them
with a machine.
• Waited for the patent of the urethane to expire to avoid infringement
Research and Development

• Mr. Ishikawa started research and development (R&D) into how

urethane could be used for a wall building material.
• Mr. Ishikawa thought that it would be better to try and introduce his
idea to a larger company with the necessary R&D and manufacturing
infrastructure already in place.
Research and Development

• After a long period of trial and error, he was finally able to develop a
technology that sped up the chemical reaction, thus significantly
accelerating the solidification speed of urethane.
• Building on the success of IGTRC, IG Kogyo continues to place great
importance on R&D into all of its new products.
Patents, Trademarks and Industrial
Designs

• From combing through numerous patent applications at the JPO in

the mid 1970s, Mr. Ishikawa was well aware early on of the
importance of the intellectual property (IP) system.
• In order to protect its company image, it has applied for and received
trademark registration for four different stylistic versions of its
company name with the JPO.
Business Results

• IG Kogyo’s unique use of patent information, R&D and the IP system

has had resounding success for the company.
• Starting out as only a dream that no one would listen to, as of early
2011 IG Kogyo has a forty percent market share of the exterior siding
industry in Japan.
• The company has raised its capital to over US $3.1 million.
• IG Kogyo has also received certification from the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), with ISO 9001 certification for
quality management practices in 2000 and ISO 14001 certification
(minimal negative environmental impact) in 2003, 2004 and 2007 for
its factories.