Ural Federal University: University Is in the Top Three for Patents Received in 2021
The Ural Federal University received 95 patents in 2021 and became one of the top three Russian companies by the number of registered documents of protection. Universities and technology companies demonstrated high activity in the domestic patent market, TASS reports. It is noteworthy that the Ural Federal University overtook such giants as Rostec and Yandex.
“The success of the Ural Federal University and the number of patents received by the university is a clear confirmation of the university’s not only scientific, but also technological competencies, of which there are about 40 today. In addition, the Ural Federal University has accumulated extensive experience in working with intellectual property and has formed a target model of technology transfer, one of the key tasks of which is the commercialization of patent potential,” said Sergey Kortov, First Vice Rector of the Ural Federal University.
It is interesting to note that in September 2021, as a result of a competition of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the Ural Federal University received a grant to create a technology transfer center, and in November of last year, due to the active position taken by the university, a consortium of organizations engaged in technology transfer was created, including 16 leading universities of the Ural Federal District and institutes of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Among the preferences of the consortium members are access to analytical and methodological materials, opportunities for staff training and joint promotion of the results of activities, etc.
“In 2021, 13 license agreements were signed, which resulted in an income of 7.5 million rubles. The total income from all forms of commercialization of the results of innovation activities was about 17 million rubles. In 2022, the yield from the commercialization of the results of the university’s innovation activities is planned to reach 100 million rubles,” explained Sergey Kortov.
In addition, the university is actively working with industrial partners: only last year, due to the efforts of the university’s Training and Research Center for Intellectual Property (part of the UrFU innovation infrastructure), 100 employees of the UVZ Concern (Uralvagonzavod Group) were trained as a part of educational programs in intellectual property management and patent research. Also due to Ural Federal University’s innovation infrastructure, an intellectual property contest was held. The winners of the Sverdlovsk Railway rationalization proposals competition took part in it, and the winners were given the opportunity to submit a full package of documents to Rospatent.