KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Value of centre’s patents found to equal that of world-leading biotech institutions’
According to the analysis firm, Cascelotte, MedTechLabs has contributed to creating successful companies and patents, which in several cases have been resold and consequently generated increased societal benefits.
“The study is based on an analysis method that gives us the opportunity to predict with great certainty the future economic value of research patents,” says Måns Marklund, CEO of Cascelotte and himself a KTH alumnus.
In a presentation of the analysis, Marklund reports that between 70 and 80 percent of MedtechLabs patents applied for are statistically economically valuable. Applying a technology-business index to measure the relative economic strength of research patents in computer tomography (CT) and related technologies during that previous 11 years, the analyists found that MedTechLabs’ output is on par with the work being done at the i3 Institute at Harvard, I-STAR Labs at Johns Hopkins University, and CT Clinical Innovation Center at Mayo Clinic. The findings were consistent with an analysis of publications by MedTechLabs researchers, conducted by the bibliometrics team at KTH, Marklund says.
“Both these indicators, publication value and patent value, respectively confirm that the output of research is very good and on a world-class level, compared to these institutes,” he says.
The company’s conclusion results from a year of evaluation of research produced at MedTechLabs. The centre is a long-term investment jointly managed by KTH, Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm with the aim of contributing to the development of medical technology by needs-motivated, clinically-based research and education.
Basic funding for MedTechLabs’s research leaders is provided by Region Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet and KTH, and all research leaders in the group run their own startup projects with links to the center’s activities.
“We have seen that MedTechLab’s research is at levels as high as those of the world’s leading universities, in terms of valuable patents related to the center’s research and development,” Marklund says.
The analysis is based on data from 20 million patent applications, as well as scientific studies, forward and backward citations, information about which countries the patents have been granted in, and the speed of the approval process. After collection, all data is processed and then compared with information on business performance, such as sales and profit growth, equity impact and market impact.
“Our most important task is to offer knowledge about development opportunities, and provide our various users a clear picture of where and how they should act to get the maximum effect from their investments,” Marklund says.