Questionnaire Survey at Universities on Utilization of Patent Information for Academic Science and Technology Researches

It seems that, currently, patent information is not fully utilized for academic research at university. What kind of consciousness do university researchers have about patent information? In response to this question, we designed a questionnaire aimed at clarifying its actual condition and consciousness based on preliminary hearing to university researchers. This questionnaire was sent totally to 319 laboratories of the top 35 Japanese universities, where their number of patent applications are positioned as top ranking. In addition to clarifying the situation of utilization of patent information for their own science and technology research, we visualized the consciousness of university researchers concerning basic research and commercial research, also extracted the issues in patent information utilization, finally we suggested important factors to utilize patent information for science and technology researches. Also, we suggested the transition of basic research to commercial researches along with the processes of research progress. This paper aims to derive hints for science and technology researches at universities to be able to more efficiently contribute to society launching a startup company or a venture company utilizing patent information in the future. We expect to be an important message in the field of managing technological entrepreneurship.