The Challenge of
Sustaining the Research
and Innovation Process
Mike Tansey
Chief Executive Officer
Thomson Scientific
Basic research – The Laser
1958 - publication of the scientific
paper, Infrared and Optical Lasers,
by Arthur Schawlow and Charles
Townes of Bell Labs.
"We thought it might have
some communications and
scientific uses, but we had no
application in mind. If we had, it
might have hampered us and
not worked out as well."
Basic research – DNA
1953 - The discovery of the
structure of DNA - Cambridge
University, graduate student
Francis Crick and research fellow
James Watson
"Almost all aspects of life are
engineered at the molecular
level, and without
understanding molecules we
can only have a very sketchy
understanding of life itself."
Applied research - Lasers
Applied research arising out of the
laser includes fibre optic laser
communications, laser surgery,
supermarket bar code scanners,
digital data storage and music CDs
Applied research - DNA
Applied research arising out of the
discovery of DNA includes disease
diagnosis, drug development,
gene therapy and, more recently,
genetically-modified organisms
Innovation, Protection and Exploitation
"Innovation is the successful
exploitation of new ideas and is
a vital ingredient for
competitiveness, productivity
and social gain within
businesses and organisations."
-London Innovation* definition
*One of the UK’s leading development agencies
Innovation, Protection and Exploitation
1974 - Seminal patent – Philips “Optical recording disc – [which]
has information recorded by
selective etching of a surface
layer”.
1979 - (US4188433) - Philips “Information storage disks – for
reading by reflected radiation”
1979 - (US4450553) - Philips “Information recording disc[s]”, or
in other words, recordable CDs
also known as CD-Rs.
Wealth creation - increasing value of
Intangible Assets
Key factors
Competitive pressure
R&D cutbacks drive efficiency
Push for innovation
Globalisation of markets
Commitments to maximise
shareholder value
1997, 1998, 1999 Arthur D. Little Benchmarkingstudies 2000est
Transfer of wealth back into research
•
•
•
Genentech  University of Leuven
Pfizer  Oklohoma State, Boston, Princeton, and California
BASF  Universities of Freiburg, Magdeburg, and
Karlsruhe as well as Arizona State, California and Pittsburgh
Transfer of wealth back into research
EU versus US and Japan in terms of expenditure on
R&D as a proportion of GDP
R&D intensity in 2000:
• EU’s
• US
• Japan
1.93%
2.69%
2.98%
The challenge of sustaining the wealth
creation cycle
• Knowledge transfer from academia to industry
• Who’s doing what?
• How do we find out?
• What funding is available?
• How do we facilitate communication?
• Commercial incentives
• Wealth transfer back from the economy to fund
basic research
The challenge of sustaining the wealth
creation cycle
Two complementary strands:
• euroCRIS initiative – database of people,
research centres, funding etc.
• Research documentation systems
The challenge of sustaining the wealth
creation cycle - Case Studies
Biotechnology vs Nanotechnology
In order to establish trends in fundamental research being
conducted, we may conduct some macro analyses of the
scientific and patent literature to establish several measures:
• When was research initiated?
• What is the current trend in volume of research
(increasing or decreasing)?
• Where is research being conducted?
• By whom?
When was research into monoclonal antibodies
initiated; what are the current trends?
Monoclonal Antibody Papers 1981 - 2002
Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators
When was research into monoclonal antibodies
initiated; what are the current trends?
Monoclonal Antibody patents 1977 - 2001
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Where is research being conducted?
Monoclonal Antibody papers by country
Source: Essential Science Indicators
Where is research being conducted?
Monoclonal Antibody patenting activity by country
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Where is research being conducted?
Patenting activity by priority country and year
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Who is conducting research?
Scientific literature analysis of academic institutions
Rank by Total Cites (1981-2003)
organization
cites
papers
cites/paper
HARVARD UNIV
55937
1123
49.81
NCI
43348
964
44.97
UNIV WASHINGTON
24424
542
45.06
STANFORD UNIV
23370
457
51.14
UNIV TEXAS
18642
789
23.63
UNIV OXFORD
17707
279
63.47
WISTAR INST ANAT & BIOL
17230
339
50.83
ORTHO PHARMACEUT CORP
15480
97
159.59
MEM SLOAN KETTERING CANC CTR 14582
508
28.7
UNIV CHICAGO
14109
237
59.53
SCRIPPS CLIN & RES FDN
13919
349
39.88
NIAID
13900
274
50.73
IMPERIAL CANC RES FUND
13686
243
56.32
VET ADM MED CTR
13580
619
21.94
MASSACHUSETTS GEN HOSP
13559
382
35.49
UNIV ALABAMA
12719
359
35.43
UNIV PENN
12672
395
32.08
MRC
12310
213
57.79 Source: ISI Essential Science
DUKE UNIV
11668
412
28.32 Indicators
UNIV CALIF SAN FRANCISCO
11376
301
37.79
Who is conducting research?
Top 15 organisations patenting Monoclonal Antibodies
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Who is conducting research?
Top 5 organisations patenting Monoclonal Antibodies
Organisation
Curagen Corporation
Genentech
Protein Design Labs
Incyte Genomics
Zymogenetics Inc
Number of Monoclonal
Total number of
%ge Monoclonal
Antibody inventions
inventions all subjects Antibody patents
100
288
34.7%
370
1156
32.0%
9
33
27.3%
215
1054
20.4%
92
501
18.4%
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Who is conducting research?
Protein Design Labs - commercial success
1990 - Patent application
WO9007861 - Protein Design
Labs - “CHIMERIC
IMMUNOGLOBULINS
SPECIFIC FOR p55 TAC
PROTEIN OF THE IL-2
RECEPTOR”.
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
Trends – Monoclonal Antibodies
Comparison of papers vs patents on
Monoclonal Antibodies
Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators, Derwent World Patents Index
Trends – Nanotechnology
Comparison of papers vs patents on
Nanotechnology
Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators, Derwent World Patents Index
Trends – Nanotechnology
Projection of Nanotechnology development
Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators, Derwent World Patents Index
Trends – Monoclonal Antibodies
Monoclonal Antibody patenting activity by country
*
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
*EP = European Patent
Trends – Nanotechnology
Percentage of patents
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
The comparative position of Europe and the US
Number of papers for overall country in 1 Year periods cited to present
Source: ISI Essential Science
Indicators
The comparative position of Europe and the US
US vs EP number of inventions to universities
Source: Derwent World Patents Index
The comparative position of Europe and
the US
“..Europe must do more if it is to become the truly
knowledge-based economy called for in March
2001 by the European Council in Lisbon. The
message emerging from the latest report by the
Commission entitled "Science, technology and
innovation - Key figures 2002" is that investments
in the knowledge-based economy (combining
research, education, training and human
resources) are lagging behind in some countries
and that progress in the transition to the
knowledge-based economy in most European
countries is still too slow.”
euroCRIS
European projects - ERGO
December 1998 - ERGO (European Research
Gateways Online) Pilot Project, a single gateway to
national databases of research projects via a central
catalogue and user-friendly search form
Successfully demonstrated:
• The practical feasibility and added value of a
facilitated access to national R&D information
from a single entry point;
• The suitability of a catalogue-based
(metadata) concept both for data collection
and easy searching.
European projects - ERGO
Basic features
• A central catalogue holding basic
information on each project contained in
participating databases;
• Further information available directly from
the relevant participating database(s);
• Regular automatic updating of the catalogue
by transmission of basic information from each
database
European projects - euroCRIS
Common user requirements - features and functionality
• Comprehensive and accurate information;
• Reliable information;
• Quality information;
• Easy to find information (user-friendly interface);
• Comprehensive subject indexing to get to relevant information quickly;
• On-line help/explanation of subject indexing;
• On-line document ordering;
• Comprehensive searching facility;
• Links to other databases;
• Import/export functions (ability to download in different formats);
euroCRIS & Thomson Scientific complementary strands
“It was agreed that overlap has to be avoided
with research documentation systems such as
publication databases or patent information
systems”
CERIF Revision Working Group (CERIF 2000)
euroCRIS & Thomson Scientific complementary strands
Thomson Scientific
•
Helping to identify cutting edge research
fronts
•
Acting as fuel for the R&D process in
converting that research into new innovations
•
Helping to track the progress of those
innovations to commercialisation and wealth
creation via protection and exploitation
•
Essential data to assist policy makers in reinvesting a proportion of that wealth in
directed programs of further research to
arrive at the start of the cycle again
Thomson Scientific
“I make an effort to find a seminal author
and then do a cited author search, and
always find items I wouldn't have found
by other means.”
Professor Charles Oppenheim
Dept of Information Science
Loughborough University
UK
Thomson Scientific
“The Web of Science is not only the
largest multidisciplinary database of the
scientific literature, it also provides our
users with navigation tools not available
in any other resource.”
Dr. Benjamin F. Bowman
Head of Information Services
Max Planck Society
Germany
Thomson Scientific
"Derwent’s patent information is
indispensable. We use it at Siemens to
discover what is state of the art and to
serve our business units with actual
published documents world-wide.”
Gerold Frers
Head of Patent Information
Siemens AG
Thank you
Mike Tansey
Chief Executive Officer
Thomson Scientific