Intellectual Property in Higher Education Institutions and Patents for Agriculture in Colombia

Abstract

Research in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is one of its substantive functions that supports the generation of new knowledge. In order to establish the state of intellectual production in Colombian HEIs, an exploratory documentary research was carried out with a qualitative approach, taking information from the Sapiens 2021 rankings and the Industrial Property System of the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC). According to the research production, it is found that by 2021, the first five positions are occupied by the National University of Colombia-Bogotá, the University of Antioquia-Medellín, the Universidad of Valle-Cali, the Pontificia Javeriana University-Bogotá, and the Andes University-Bogotá. A growth of the indicators for technological products (new creations) is found in the period 2017-2021, although in 2021, the production of research groups is associated with the indicator of regulations, standards, and technical regulations, followed by the products of consultancy, and in third place the new creations. Among the 15 HEIs with the best results in technological development in 2021, it is found that between 1991 and 2021, they registered 472 new creations in the SIC, of which 267 patents have been granted, 62 of them related to agriculture. The largest number of records corresponds to the National University of Colombia-Bogotá and the HEIs with the highest number of patents are the National University of Colombia-Bogotá, EAFIT University-Medellín and the Pontificia Bolivarian University-Medellín. There is evidence of growth in technological production in Colombian HEIs and the protection of new creations through patents for new processes/techniques, at 50%, equipment, at 23%, and products, at 27%.