Research Patents Research Articles

Bauxite residue issues: II. options for residue utilization

Worldwide bauxite residue disposal areas contain an estimated 2.7 billion tonnes of residue, increasing by approximately 120 million tonnes per annum. The question of what to do with bauxite residue arose with the development of the Bayer process for alumina refining and the recognition that it generated a large amount of waste material. In the subsequent 120 years, residues have been primarily disposed into long-term storage, with a wide range of industry practice depending on local circumstances. Ideally this residue would be utilized as an industrial by-product for other applications, leading to a zero waste situation. Despite over 50 years of research and hundreds of publications and patents on the subject, little evidence exists of any significant utilization of bauxite residue. In this review of public domain information the reasons are examined, future opportunities are identified, and a way forward is proposed. All avenues of residue “re-use” (or more appropriately “use”) are considered, but emphasis is on the few highest volume uses of lowest risk. Utilization is defined as taking the residue in some non-hazardous form (as a by-product) from the alumina refinery site and then using it as feedstock for another distinct application. Although residues from different bauxites have generic similarities, their specific make-up and residue location can influence their suitability for a given type of use. There are four primary reasons for inaction on residue use: volume, performance, cost and risk, with the last two probably being paramount. In terms of cost there are better options for raw material input from virgin sources (lower cost for better grades) that do not come with the same perceived risks as bauxite residue. The risks are composition based (technical and community perception) and relate to: soda, alkalinity, heavy metals and low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). Amongst the outcomes of this review are priority research recommendations to address the knowledge gaps identified that, amongst other factors, are impeding the implementation of residue use. This is the second in a series of four related reviews examining bauxite residue issues in detail.

How does the management of research impact the disclosure of knowledge? Evidence from scientific publications and patenting behavior

This paper examines the effect of control rights over whether to publish or patent research results. University researchers have substantial discretion over disclosure, while management in non-academic organizations often direct researchers to patent their findings. Thus, the effect of control rights can be identified by using the shift from basic to commercializable knowledge because management has a larger incentive to protect the commercializable knowledge. The effect, however, may be confounded by the heterogeneity of research paths and the organizational factors other than the allocation of decision rights. To overcome these issues, this paper exploits multiple discoveries associated with a single human gene as a research path and a discovery of a gene's linkage to a disease that may spark commercially oriented research on that gene. To isolate the effect of decision rights, multiple types of non-academic organizations are also used. Building on this variation of knowledge along research paths, the differences-in-differences estimate shows that non-academic research organizations become less likely to publish and more likely to patent than universities in the advance of commercializable knowledge.

Competing Pathways for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport: A Comparative Analysis of Electric and Hydrogen Vehicles

Both hydrogen and electric vehicles (HVs and EVs) have received widespread attention as key options for decoupling road transport from the environmental and energy security risks posed by climate change and oil dependency. However, considerable uncertainty remains as to which of these technologies will succeed in the long term. This study contributes to policy debates surrounding technological change and decarbonisation in road transport by focusing on the role of evolutionary change processes in the development and commercialisation of new vehicle/fuel configurations, such as technological learning effects captured in niche markets and technology spillovers arising from unrelated sectors such as consumer electronics and power generation. The study draws on a mix of patent analysis, field research and extensive literature surveys to confirm the hypothesis that EVs have greater potential to achieve market dominance, not because of any inherent technical or environmental advantage, but because of their wider scope to link up to such evolutionary change processes. For instance, EV infrastructure can be expanded and optimised incrementally as the number of EVs grows, starting with the large number of households with adequate off-street charging facilities. In contrast, HVs require major ‘initiating’ investments in refuelling networks with few opportunities to leverage existing hydrogen infrastructure. The development of EVs also has greater potential to benefit from technological linkages to power source markets such as consumer electronics, which share a similar requirement for high energy density electricity storage, and from niche and hybrid applications such as ‘commuter’ BEVs and PHEVs, which incentivise market-driven R&D and investments in the EV mobility chain. In summary, the main factor differentiating EVs from HVs is the possibility to realise a systemic transition through small incremental steps, without the need for major decisions or infrastructure and technology developments to be made prior to commercialisation.

Best Historical Materials

The RUSA History Section's Historical Materials Committee follows an established method to identify the best materials for the year. The process uses standardized criteria, a broad, national call for nominations, and the work of committee members to review and select from the nominations. The 2016 Best Historical Materials' list is a mix of digital archives, collections, indexes, and print bibliographies that promote the research of unique, rich, and specialized collections. All resources were last reviewed on December 9, 2016. Bibliography of the East India Company. Contemporary Printed Sources, 1786-1858, Catherine Pickett This book continues Pickett's work, first published in 2011 as Bibliography of the East India Company: Books, Pamphlets and Other Materials Printed between 1600 and 1785. The second volume covers the years between the subordination of the Company to the Crown and the disestablishment of the Company after the Indian Rebellion. It offers not merely a list of published works, but also includes a preface for each year that is covered. The prefaces themselves offer a chronology and contextualization of events in the history of the Company for each year. The bibliography covers monographs written during the period but also includes ephemera such as price lists and cargo manifests. Although individual entries are not annotated (except to add caption titles, which often explain the contents of a book), the bibliography is indexed by author, title, and subject.--Steven A. Knowlton, Princeton University CALISPHERE, University of California Libraries, developed and maintained by the California Digital Library (https:// calisphere.org) Provides a central location to access a rich and diverse variety of digital collections on California. The site is hosted by the University of California system, but includes many state-wide partners: museums, public and special libraries, and archives. Content includes visual, textual, and audio materials. A single search box on the homepage searches across all collections. The result list includes limiting facets by type of item (moving image, text, etc.), decade, contributing institution, or specific collection. Includes a browse feature by collection or by exhibition. The interface is user-friendly and attractive, the digitization quality is excellent, and the material covers topics from all subject areas (history, literature, race relations, diversity, economic growth, performing and visual arts, architecture, etc.). Each entry includes a rights statement so that the end user is aware of copyright ownership and/or restrictions.--Eileen Bentsen, Baylor University Directory of American Tool and Machinery Patents (DATAMP), DATAMP is funded by the Old Woodworking Machines website (www.datamp.org) Patents aren't just for engineers anymore--they are an excellent primary source for cultural, scientific, and community history. Historical patent research has long been hampered by its arcane indexing system, with patents before 1976 indexed only by date and USPTO assigned classification codes. Historians are more likely to look for connections via the name or location of the inventor. Unfortunately OCR files in Google Patents are often unable to read full text of the older documents accurately. The open-access DATAMP database offers an extremely valuable tool for those tracking patented machines and tools, including household, agricultural, industrial, structures, and hand tools. This database supplements information in the patent record: names and locations of manufacturers, access to over 1300 non-US historic patents, Confederate States of America patents, and patents destroyed in fires at the USPTO. Russ Allen and his team of dedicated volunteers from antique tool and machinery circles (including retired York, NE librarian and library director Stan Shulz) have made this database easy to browse or search. For example, information about Albert W. …

INTRODUCING BUSINESS METHOD PATENTS INTO THE IS CURRICULUM

Business method patents are a viable strategic weapon when used to protect intellectual property. At the same time, studies have shown that coverage of intellectual property in the IS curriculum is lacking. This paper suggests the use of a research assignment in IS courses that can help students understand the use of patents as a competitive strategy. Background material is provided for instructors, along with suggestions for assignment design and patent research resources.

Business School Research: Measuring Value Contribution Through Citations of Journals in Patents

Academic research from business schools should be relevant and rigorous; however, business school research has often been criticized for its lack of value and relevance to business. In addition, business schools have been asked to assess the impact of faculty research. This paper examines citations of journals in patents to assess one dimension of that value, relevance, and impact. In particular, this paper analyzes the number of patents that cite specific journals focusing on eight business disciplines, as an alternative approach for assessing this one dimension: patentable research. In addition, this paper uses citations of journals in patents to assess the leading journals in these eight disciplines.

Delphion: A World Class Patent Database - A Comprehensive Analysis from Patent Information Professional’s Perspective

The prospect of patent information is considered from the combined perspective of information professional, a patent agent, an inventor and a corporate patent information user. The proposed study is an in-depth analysis of Delphion database, a robust patent research and analysis tool and its offering as far as patent information is concerned and finally a SWOT analysis, which is an evaluation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the said database.

TRIZ for Reverse Inventing in Market Research: A Case Study from WITTENSTEIN AG, Identifying New Areas of Application of a Core Technology

Conventional strategic market research is a very expensive method to gain results which are often marked by a high degree of uncertainty. We have developed and tested a cost‐effective TRIZ‐based concept called ‘reverse inventing’ for the improvement of this situation. Reverse inventing is a logical process comprising the steps of situation analysis, abstraction of strengths, transformation into searchable queries, comparison with existing knowledge bases such as patent databases, and evaluation of obtained results. The method was used for an opportunity assessment of one of Wittenstein's most distinctive products, namely a system for the controlled prolongation of limbs by means of a dynamic intermedular nail for implantation into the bone marrow of limbs, typically legs. The purpose was to identify further business opportunities for the respective business line, in order to extend its revenue base and growth potential. In the course of this study, several potential business areas could be identified for an approach by this business line. Most of the obtained results were rather surprising and outside the classical search field of market analysis. But they still proved to reveal actual high potential areas for the business line in question. The evaluation was based on an analysis of core business line strengths and a comparison with abstract requirement profiles as identified by patent research. Hence it not only indicated general fields of requirement, but also brought forward concrete names of companies and people to contact. We found the method to be highly effective in providing unexpected but valuable ideas for new market opportunities, which lay beyond our customary search horizon. We suggest the application of this method in search strategies for the identification of additional business segments of an organization. Subsequent to the initial phase of analysis the method has to be complemented by classical tools of market analysis and intelligence. It can be utilized in any technology‐driven market, or at least wherever searchable databases, such as patent literature databases, are available for evaluation.

Internationalization of technology development in India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the internationalization of technology development in India. The internationalization of research and development (R&D) has not been a recent phenomenon. Large multinational companies increased their R&D investment in various host countries during the past years. While the US and the countries in Western Europe have been the traditional locus of R&D, China and India have emerged lately as the destinations for R&D. The changes in geopolitical systems of trade and intellectual property protection couples with the advances in information and communication technology have helped globalize the R&D activities.Design/methodology/approachThe study has used the US patents as a surrogate measure for the technical output from India. The data include all US patents granted between 1992 and 2007 in which at least one inventor was an Indian resident. Studies in the field of economics of technology and in science policy have used patents as a valid measure of R&D output.FindingsThe results of this study indicated that there were three phases of technological development in India. Intensity of patenting, role of the different institutions in technology development, and the focus of technology characterize each phase. By examining the co‐inventors, the authors see how the international cooperation among scientists has shaped. While government laboratories under the aegis of the council of scientific and industrial research had a high number of patents, their role has gone through significant shifts among the three phases. The authors also find that the multinational companies from the US have driven the recent growth in Indian patenting and are using more of all‐Indian teams for patentable research. This indicates maturation the skills of technical personnel in India in terms of developing patentable technology. The study also points out the fact that despite the growth of the Indian corporations in the IT sector, they lack in building their own intellectual property. If India wants to maintain the momentum of growth in corporate R&D, it faces the challenge of upgrading its higher education in producing technical graduates at masters and doctoral levels.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the study include the validity of patents as the sole measure of innovation and technology development. The process of obtaining patents in the US is expensive and it may deter some organizations to pursue it. Other methods to obtain data on innovative activities may be necessary to validate the findings reported here.Practical implicationsThe study provides a rich source of information about the growth of technological fields in India and the challenges that it faces in building its global competitiveness.Originality/valueThe study should be useful in identifying the sectors where India has developed strengths and the areas where it needs to improve. Also, by examining the ownership pattern of the intellectual property in these sectors, one can postulate the technological independence of Indian organizations.

How Does the Management of Research Impact the Disclosure of Knowledge? Evidence from Scientific Publications and Patenting Behavior

This paper examines the effect of control rights over whether to publish or patent research results. University researchers have substantial discretion over disclosure, while management in non-academic organizations often direct researchers to patent their findings. Thus, the effect of control rights can be identified by using the shift from basic to commercializable knowledge because management has a larger incentive to protect the commercializable knowledge. The effect, however, may be confounded by the heterogeneity of research paths and the organizational factors other than the allocation of decision rights. To overcome these issues, this paper exploits multiple discoveries associated with a single human gene as a research path and a discovery of a gene's linkage to a disease that may spark commercially oriented research on that gene. To isolate the effect of decision rights, multiple types of non-academic organizations are also used. Building on this variation of knowledge along research paths, the differences-in-differences estimate shows that non-academic research organizations become less likely to publish and more likely to patent than universities in the advance of commercializable knowledge.

El análisis de patentes como estrategia para la toma de decisiones innovadoras

Applying metric analysis to the information contained in patent documentation has become one of the principal techniques for modeling technology scenarios for government, business and industry, research institutes, projects, etc. We propose using bibliometric indicators for patent research, identifying patterns and trends based on available technological evidence as well as detecting possible social networks in the “hidden web”, which permits effective decisionmaking in the research context. A case study is used to demonstrate these concepts, analysing the EUA patents database and processing it with a tool developed by Pinar del Rio University. Ucinet software is used on occasion to map existing social networks. This makes it possible to produce results that demonstrate the relevance of patentometric studies to research projects, including the possibility of redirecting the objectives of a research project on the basis of this analysis.

THE EFFECTS OF INNOVATION POLICIES ON BUSINESS R&D: A CROSS-NATIONAL EMPIRICAL STUDY

This paper examines the effect of three major national innovation policies (patent protection, research and development (R&D) tax incentives, and government funding of business R&D) on business R&D spending. Unlike previous work, we also consider the effect of openness to international trade. We use data from nine OECD countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK, and USA) in 1985–1995. Our results show that all three innovation policies play a significant role in stimulating business R&D. Enforcement of patent right matters most to business R&D spending. In addition, R&D performed by the government has a positive effect on business R&D, whereas R&D by the higher education sector has a negative impact on business R&D. We also find modest empirical support to the positive role of openess to international trade in business R&D investment.

A baseline for the impact of academic patenting legislation in Norway

As the commercialization of academic research has risen as a target area in many countries, the need for better empirical data collection to evaluate policy changes on this front has increasingly been recognized. This need is exemplified in the Norwegian case where legislative changes went into effect in 2003 expressly to encourage greater commercialization through patenting research results. This policy ambition faces the problem that no record of the patenting activity of academic researchers is available before 2003 when the country's "professor's privilege" was phased out. This article addresses the fundamental difficulty of how to empirically test the effect of such policy aims. It develops a methodology which can be used to reliably baseline changes in the extent and focus of academic patents. The purpose is to describe the empirical approach and results, while also providing insight into the changes in Norwegian policy on this front and their context.

About “trivial” software patents: The IsNot case

So-called “trivial” software patents undermine the patenting system and are detrimental for innovation. In this paper we use a case-based approach to get a better understanding of this phenomenon. First, we establish a baseline for studying the relation between software development and intellectual property rights by formulating a life cycle for the patenting system as well as three variations of the software life cycle: the defensive patent-aware software life cycle that prevents patent infringements, the more offensive patent-based software life cycle that aims both at preventing infringements and at creating new patents, and the IPR-based software life cycle that considers all forms of protection of intellectual property rights including copyright and secrecy. Next, we study an application for a software patent concerning the inequality operator and a granted European patent on memory management. We also briefly mention other examples of trivial patents. These examples serve to clarify the issues that arise when integrating patents in the software life cycle. In an extensive discussion, we cover the difference between expression and idea, the role of patent claims, software patents versus computer implemented inventions, the role of prior art, implications of software patents for open source software, for education, and for government-funded research. We conclude the discussion with the formulation of an “integrity axiom” for software patent authors and owners and sketch an agenda for software patent research. We conclude that patents are too important to be left to lawyers and economists and that a complete reinterpretation of the patenting system from a software engineering perspective is necessary to understand all ramifications of software patents. We end with explicit conclusions and policy recommendations.

Forecast of Development of Cryogenic and Energy-Generating Installations Based on Stirling Machines up to the Year 2010

Patent research data on Stirling machines and energy-saving systems based on these machines are reported. Future development of directions of research for improving the key units of Stirling machines and for creating forward and reverse Stirling cycles is forecast.

Gene patenting and medical research: a view from a pharmaceutical company.

Recent reports on gene patenting claim that it has had a negative impact on medical research and have advocated changes in the law to address the negative effects the authors perceive to exist. These reports are based on anecdotal rather than objective evidence. In this article we seek to evaluate the impact of gene patenting objectively by examining, in overall terms, whether there has been a net cost or benefit to medical research from gene patenting.

Biotechnology Patents and Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Emerging Issues (Part II)

Biotechnology Patents and Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Emerging Issues (Part II)

Biotechnology Patents and Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Emerging Issues (Part I)

Biotechnology Patents and Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Emerging Issues (Part I)

Governing genetics: reifying choice and progress

The governance of genetics involves a wide range of policy networks and covers a considerable array of genetic technoscience. Despite this apparent diversity, the uniformity of some genetic governance requires investigation. Reviewing policy documents on genetic patenting and embryonic stem cell research, I shall argue that policy networks often conceive of the ethical aspects of these practices in similar ways. In particular, I shall argue that individual choice and medico-scientific progress are common rhetorical devices in their frameworks. I shall end by commenting upon the implications of these trends for the future.

Patent litigation as a leading market indicator

The purpose of this paper is to introduce patent litigation as a leading indicator of market growth. We model the intensity of patent litigation and the market growth for the personal computer and cellular phone market in the USA. By means of these analytic models, we show that patent litigation is a leading indicator of market growth. We are also able very precisely to delineate discrete stages of the product's market life cycle and demarcate the time when life-cycle transitions are about to take place. We close this paper with a discussion on new lines of patent research that are potentially useful for managerial practice and for investment decisions.