The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has announced the start of a public debate over this country’s new long-term intellectual property (IP) protection strategy, portal Science and Technologies Russia reported earlier this week.
The document is reported to have accumulated opinions and suggestions from Russia’s leading experts who represent VC funds, venture companies and larger corporations, and offers a set of draft rules to regulate the national IP market and foster the creation of this country’s competitive economy based on knowledge and high technology.
At the moment, Russia’s intellectual property market is not conducive to meeting the needs of the nascent innovation economy, the authors of the draft policy believe. Citing the findings from their five-year analysis of the national situation, the experts claim that no more than 15-20% of R&D products developed with Russian government funding eventually attain effective IP protection.
In patenting, Russia lags alarmingly behind a large number of countries, including Germany where companies get twice as many patents than in Russia; the United States (8.2-8.9 times ahead of Russia in patenting); Japan (11-15 times ahead of Russia); and China and Hong Kong that now issue seven times the number of patents in Russia — a considerable spurt from 2.8 times the number of Russian patents five years ago.
The new strategy is expected to positively impact the situation. The Ministry of Education and Science welcomes comments, critique and suggestions at [email protected]. The deadline for submitting feedback is January 25, 2013.
