PONS IP, a global intellectual property consulting firm, held a meeting within the framework of “S4i Science for Industry” which brought together at La Nave de Madrid Madrid heads of innovation and technology transfer from the main universities, research centres, corporations and investors in deepscience in Europe in order to promote a discussion on the importance of intellectual property, transfer and public-private partnerships.
The round table continued, with new players and experts, the public debate opened by PONS IP and COTEC Foundation in 2023 after the publication of the first report on Technological Sovereignty and Intellectual Property which highlighted the role of intellectual property as a catalyst for technological sovereignty and concluded that “there is a need for Spain and the Spanish business sector to have its own technological capabilities that allow a better position to establish alliances with third parties for the future marketing and supply of critical technologies, avoiding external dependencies.”
Entitled ‘Technological Sovereignty: the strategic role of Intellectual Property’, the meeting’s attendees included Luis Ignacio Vicente del Olmo, Strategic Counselor of PONS IP; Nuria Marcos, General Manager of PONS IP; Paloma Castellano, Manager of WAYRA Madrid; Ana Castro, Vice-President of Innovation and Transfer at CSIC; Andrea Molina Azcona, Head of Intellectual Property at Acciona Energía; and José Francisco Fernández Lozano, Co-Founder of ENCAPSULAE.
In this context, the event began with a presentation by Luis Ignacio Vicente, who gave the floor to Ana Castro, Vice-President of Innovation and Transfer at CSIC, to explain the initiatives being undertaken by the CSIC to align R&D results with the Spanish productive network. “It is not about quantity but quality. We must promote the creation of technology-based companies founded on sound science and data-driven innovation, focusing on technology transfer and real impact on the market,” said the head of CSIC, while acknowledging that CSIC’s activity and intellectual property are an “unstoppable tandem” as a lever of transformation and financial driving force of the different territories in Spain.
Then, Andrea Molina Azcona, head of Intellectual Property at ACCIONA Energy, analysed the role of intellectual property management in the field of investment in startups and how it is affecting the decision to consider one or the other in the investment decision. “Before making any investment decision, at ACCIONA we always evaluate the intellectual property portfolio and, in recent years, the technological surveillance tools to protect that innovation as well.”
In turn, Nuria Marcos, General Manager of PONS IP, pointed out that “addressing the aim of achieving technological sovereignty makes no sense without an adequate intellectual property strategy that acts as a catalyst and offers legal certainty if we want our companies to scale up. Entrepreneurs need fewer obstacles and more practical tools to help them grow.”
In this regard, Paloma Castellano, Manager of Wayra Madrid, detailed the key levers that need to be activated from the public and private sectors in order to promote the scalability and growth that will ensure their competitiveness and survival. “In the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem, the great challenge today is growth. Of the 40,000#startups, only 450 are currently in the scaleup phase. At Wayra today, our main companies have sound technology, many highly qualified employees and a defined intellectual property licensing and exploitation strategy.”
Moving on to a different topic, José Fernández co-founder of Encapsulae pointed out, as an entrepreneur, some of the demands to boost the growth of the sector, recalling that it is “basic” to invest in technology “because today there are many opportunities and a great deal of talent in Spain, but it is just as fundamental to invest in intellectual property if you are looking for funding for your project.”
