International Seminar “University and Research Developments into Practice”
On 17 September 2009, the International Scientific and Practical Seminar “University and Research Developments into Practice”, organised by the Russian Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society International (LES Russia)
17 September 2009
On 17 September 2009, the International Scientific and Practical Seminar “University and Research Developments into Practice”, organised by the Russian Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society International (LES Russia) with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, was held in Moscow. The seminar was devoted to the commercialisation of the latest developments created by scientific organisations and higher education institutions in Russia.
The seminar discussed such current issues as:
Particular attention was paid to discussion of the new Law of the Russian Federation “On the Establishment by Budget-Funded Scientific and Educational Institutions of Business Entities for the Practical Application (Implementation) of Intellectual Activity Results”. This law defines the principle of use (implementation) of intellectual activity results (hereinafter referred to as IAR) created in state educational and scientific institutions financed from the state budget.
The seminar was attended by 128 participants from all regions of Russia, as well as Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus.
Most of the seminar participants were senior officials — vice-rectors of universities and higher education institutions, as well as heads of research centres. The seminar speakers included representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), and Russian and foreign experts.
Such high-level representation among both speakers and seminar participants was due to the selected topic.
It should be noted that, in the context of the development of an innovation-based economy in Russia, the effective use of intellectual activity results (IAR) is becoming critically important for all sectors of the national economy.
This is particularly relevant for Russian universities, higher education institutions and research centres, where most inventions and other IAR were created using state budget funds.
That is why participants from all parts of Russia and the CIS countries came to our seminar. In addition, simultaneous interpretation of all presentations into Russian and English was provided during the seminar, which significantly broadened the range of participants.
Following the opening remarks by the President of LES Russia, N. Karpova, Mr Alexey Sudarikov, Deputy Director of the Department of Scientific, Technical and Innovation Policy of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, addressed the seminar participants.
He spoke about ways of commercialising IAR created in Russian higher education institutions and scientific organisations. The speaker paid particular attention to the new opportunities for using IAR provided by the recently adopted Federal Law No. 217-FZ of 2 August 2009 “On the Establishment by Budget-Funded Scientific and Educational Institutions of Business Entities for the Practical Application (Implementation) of Intellectual Activity Results”.
It should be noted here that, prior to the adoption of this Law, Russian educational and scientific institutions financed by the state could not independently dispose of rights to IAR. Now, in accordance with this Law, these institutions may independently establish business entities — small enterprises — in which the IAR created by these institutions will be implemented.
In his presentation, Mr Sudarikov A.L. covered the conditions and process for establishing business entities, the specific features of forming the authorised capital of small enterprises, including the transfer of rights under a licence agreement, and the disposal of income received.
One of the authors of the draft Law, Oleg Gutnikov, Head of Department at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, then addressed the seminar participants. He provided a general overview of the new Law, explained the legal prerequisites underlying the concept of the draft law, listed the general requirements and procedure for establishing business entities by higher education institutions and scientific organisations, and gave a detailed explanation of the problematic issues arising in the establishment of small enterprises, particularly in the area of disposing of intellectual property rights.
At the conclusion of his presentation, Mr Gutnikov O.V. gave practical recommendations on implementing the provisions of the new Law.
Natalia Larionova, Deputy Director of the Department for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, addressed issues related to supporting small businesses in Russia both in light of the adopted Law and under the current legislative framework. She considered such fundamental issues for small and medium-sized businesses as the introduction of new tax regulators and benefits, specific features of financial and accounting practices, as well as the system of state support for small and medium-sized businesses.
The presentation by Dr Heinz Goddar aroused genuine interest among the seminar participants. In his presentation, Dr H. Goddar shared the experience accumulated in Germany in the field of cooperation between universities, research centres and industry.
He explained in detail how rights to IAR are distributed between professors and university administrations. He separately addressed the specific features of technology licensing in Germany, gave specific examples and provided links to websites where the necessary documents could be found.
The material presented by Dr Goddar is extremely useful, as it can be applied in the practical activities of Russian companies.
Mr Vladimir Urezchenko, Senior Project Manager at the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), spoke about the practical organisation of the process of implementing IAR. He presented a range of programmes implemented by the ISTC. The purpose of these programmes is to assist research institutes in the CIS countries in securing stable financial revenues from the realisation of their innovation potential.
He shared the experience accumulated by the ISTC over 15 years of its existence, provided specific examples of successful implementation of institutional technologies in industry, and identified the main obstacles to the commercialisation of IAR.
Mr Urezchenko also identified the main problems, in his view, in the process of developing an innovation-based economy in Russia. These include, on the one hand, the lack of broad demand for innovation and, on the other hand, the underdevelopment of an “enabling environment”, which implies the presence of various factors, including appropriate infrastructure, legislative aspects, legal culture and the mentality of participants in scientific and innovation processes.
The format of our seminar deserves special mention. It was held in the form of a “Round Table”, which enabled all participants to ask questions and receive comprehensive answers directly from the relevant experts.
In addition, those who wished to do so were able to speak and share their points of view, comments and proposals. Of course, not everyone was able to speak, but the seminar participants completed special questionnaires in which they also provided their proposals and comments.
The proposed seminar format proved to be extremely productive. Representatives of the Russian executive authorities and the developers of the draft Law were able to record these proposals and comments so that they could later be taken into account when drafting regulatory documents for the implementation of the Law.
A distinctive feature of this seminar was that its participants, together with representatives of the executive authorities, discussed all the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system in Russia for the use of IAR created in educational and scientific institutions; identified the problems arising locally in different regions of Russia; and considered what needed to be done to make this system operate more effectively.
In conclusion, we would like to express confidence that the results obtained during our seminar will be effectively used in the practical activities of the participants and will contribute to the formation of a new economic environment in Russia.
On 17 September 2009, the International Scientific and Practical Seminar “University and Research Developments into Practice”, organised by the Russian Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society International (LES Russia) with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, was held in Moscow. The seminar was devoted to the commercialisation of the latest developments created by scientific organisations and higher education institutions in Russia.
The seminar discussed such current issues as:
- how to build cooperation between higher education institutions, scientific organisations and industry;
- how to achieve success in the transfer and use of the latest technologies;
- the specific features of licensing patented research results of scientific and educational organisations.
Particular attention was paid to discussion of the new Law of the Russian Federation “On the Establishment by Budget-Funded Scientific and Educational Institutions of Business Entities for the Practical Application (Implementation) of Intellectual Activity Results”. This law defines the principle of use (implementation) of intellectual activity results (hereinafter referred to as IAR) created in state educational and scientific institutions financed from the state budget.
The seminar was attended by 128 participants from all regions of Russia, as well as Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus.
Most of the seminar participants were senior officials — vice-rectors of universities and higher education institutions, as well as heads of research centres. The seminar speakers included representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), and Russian and foreign experts.
Such high-level representation among both speakers and seminar participants was due to the selected topic.
It should be noted that, in the context of the development of an innovation-based economy in Russia, the effective use of intellectual activity results (IAR) is becoming critically important for all sectors of the national economy.
This is particularly relevant for Russian universities, higher education institutions and research centres, where most inventions and other IAR were created using state budget funds.
That is why participants from all parts of Russia and the CIS countries came to our seminar. In addition, simultaneous interpretation of all presentations into Russian and English was provided during the seminar, which significantly broadened the range of participants.
Following the opening remarks by the President of LES Russia, N. Karpova, Mr Alexey Sudarikov, Deputy Director of the Department of Scientific, Technical and Innovation Policy of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, addressed the seminar participants.
He spoke about ways of commercialising IAR created in Russian higher education institutions and scientific organisations. The speaker paid particular attention to the new opportunities for using IAR provided by the recently adopted Federal Law No. 217-FZ of 2 August 2009 “On the Establishment by Budget-Funded Scientific and Educational Institutions of Business Entities for the Practical Application (Implementation) of Intellectual Activity Results”.
It should be noted here that, prior to the adoption of this Law, Russian educational and scientific institutions financed by the state could not independently dispose of rights to IAR. Now, in accordance with this Law, these institutions may independently establish business entities — small enterprises — in which the IAR created by these institutions will be implemented.
In his presentation, Mr Sudarikov A.L. covered the conditions and process for establishing business entities, the specific features of forming the authorised capital of small enterprises, including the transfer of rights under a licence agreement, and the disposal of income received.
One of the authors of the draft Law, Oleg Gutnikov, Head of Department at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, then addressed the seminar participants. He provided a general overview of the new Law, explained the legal prerequisites underlying the concept of the draft law, listed the general requirements and procedure for establishing business entities by higher education institutions and scientific organisations, and gave a detailed explanation of the problematic issues arising in the establishment of small enterprises, particularly in the area of disposing of intellectual property rights.
At the conclusion of his presentation, Mr Gutnikov O.V. gave practical recommendations on implementing the provisions of the new Law.
Natalia Larionova, Deputy Director of the Department for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, addressed issues related to supporting small businesses in Russia both in light of the adopted Law and under the current legislative framework. She considered such fundamental issues for small and medium-sized businesses as the introduction of new tax regulators and benefits, specific features of financial and accounting practices, as well as the system of state support for small and medium-sized businesses.
The presentation by Dr Heinz Goddar aroused genuine interest among the seminar participants. In his presentation, Dr H. Goddar shared the experience accumulated in Germany in the field of cooperation between universities, research centres and industry.
He explained in detail how rights to IAR are distributed between professors and university administrations. He separately addressed the specific features of technology licensing in Germany, gave specific examples and provided links to websites where the necessary documents could be found.
The material presented by Dr Goddar is extremely useful, as it can be applied in the practical activities of Russian companies.
Mr Vladimir Urezchenko, Senior Project Manager at the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), spoke about the practical organisation of the process of implementing IAR. He presented a range of programmes implemented by the ISTC. The purpose of these programmes is to assist research institutes in the CIS countries in securing stable financial revenues from the realisation of their innovation potential.
He shared the experience accumulated by the ISTC over 15 years of its existence, provided specific examples of successful implementation of institutional technologies in industry, and identified the main obstacles to the commercialisation of IAR.
Mr Urezchenko also identified the main problems, in his view, in the process of developing an innovation-based economy in Russia. These include, on the one hand, the lack of broad demand for innovation and, on the other hand, the underdevelopment of an “enabling environment”, which implies the presence of various factors, including appropriate infrastructure, legislative aspects, legal culture and the mentality of participants in scientific and innovation processes.
The format of our seminar deserves special mention. It was held in the form of a “Round Table”, which enabled all participants to ask questions and receive comprehensive answers directly from the relevant experts.
In addition, those who wished to do so were able to speak and share their points of view, comments and proposals. Of course, not everyone was able to speak, but the seminar participants completed special questionnaires in which they also provided their proposals and comments.
The proposed seminar format proved to be extremely productive. Representatives of the Russian executive authorities and the developers of the draft Law were able to record these proposals and comments so that they could later be taken into account when drafting regulatory documents for the implementation of the Law.
A distinctive feature of this seminar was that its participants, together with representatives of the executive authorities, discussed all the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system in Russia for the use of IAR created in educational and scientific institutions; identified the problems arising locally in different regions of Russia; and considered what needed to be done to make this system operate more effectively.
In conclusion, we would like to express confidence that the results obtained during our seminar will be effectively used in the practical activities of the participants and will contribute to the formation of a new economic environment in Russia.
See also
