Intellectual Property and Medical Innovation Research Utilization at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University

Background:  In order to increase the potential use of intellectual property innovations of the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, it is necessary to know the intellectual property information and utilization. In the past, there has been no systematic study to be used as a guide to leverage intellectual property for social and commercial purposes. Currently, there is no clear information to improve operations and support. Objectives: To study the number of intellectual property and their utilization in the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between the academic year 2007 to 2018 by using secondary data of intellectual property for data collection and analysis. The numbers of intellectual property were categorized by year, type of intellectual property and type of utilization. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: There were 146 intellectual properties including 52 petty patents (35.62%), 1 invention (0.69%), 9 product designs (6.16%) and 84 copyrights (57.53%), whereas 25 pending process of patents. The utilization of intellectual property was 51.72% for use for social purposes, 36.55% for academic use, and only 11.73% for commercial use. Conclusions: The utilization of intellectual property at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University was mainly for academic and community uses. Use for commercial purposes was relatively low but there is potential for application provided that inventors receive suitable encouragement and have intellectual property knowledge to develop innovations that lead to concrete use.