IP protection in Belgian universities - Best practices and analysis in the European academic and business context

Protection of intellectual property has become an important topic in academic research. Since the concepts of academic spin-off and valorisation of academic research results gained influence in Europe, the academic culture and dissemination of research results is subject to a metamorphosis. This study aims to give a first insight in the ways and procedures used by Belgian Technology Transfer Offices (TTO’s) to protect the results of hard and often pioneering research work. The main topics addressed in this study concern the way of organising the TTO service within the university, the adopted policies and procedures, the method of prior art search and a indication of the cost structure through subventions and cost participation by departments and third parties. Analysis of the observed heterogeneity results in 4 archetypes during the evolution of a TTO. In a further stage, this study tries to discover similarities and differences between IP protection in Belgian universities and in commercial enterprises in innovating sectors and foreign universities. The analysis provides insight in the main differences between the academic and the commercial world in the matter of patent filing procedures and policies and IP protection.