Ana María de Lucas, Dr in Biology (PhD) and technical advisor for ABG IP’s Department of Biotechnology & Life Sciences, lectured on “Protecting innovation in Biotechnology” at a seminar for the Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering organised by the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
At a time when the number of European patent applications in biotechnology has increased by 6.3% in the past five years (to over 7,300 in 2020), and which has seen an increase which surpasses 10% for pharmaceutical products, training chemical engineers in industrial property becomes especially relevant.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has played a role in the increase of R&D investment at biotech companies and this translates into an intense generation of intangible assets for which protection is crucial in order for the evolution of scientific and technical knowledge to continue in this upward trend,” Lucas states.
Most common biotechnology patents
During her lecture, the technical advisor explained several types of industrial property rights, highlighting patents and some general aspects of their prosecution, as well as the most common biotechnological inventions and how to obtain patent protection for them.
This is intended to help students achieve the ultimate goal of the degree, which is the transfer of knowledge to the productive sector and to society.
The Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering was awarded the European accreditation EUR-ACE® (European Accreditation of Engineering Programmes) and includes over thirty students who are mainly Chemical Engineering graduates from different Spanish universities.
