§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the 20 universities(a) which have taken out the most patents in the UK and (b) with the highest incomes raised through the development of patented products, broken down by amount raised in the past 20 years; and if she will list the 10 most commercially successful patents from British universities, giving the name of the product and the amount of income generated. [133825]
§ Ms HewittPatent Office databases are not structured to provide information on categories of applicants for patents. Generating the data would involve disproportionate cost. Some limited information on numbers of patents filed and income generated by UK universities is available from the Higher Education Business Interaction (HE-BI) survey but only for the last three years. This information was gathered on the basis that it would remain confidential due to its commercially sensitive nature, and as such may not be divulged.
The Government have asked Richard Lambert to examine how the long-term links between business and British universities can be strengthened to the benefit of the UK's economy. The full set of responses from institutions (who have given the review team permission to publish) is available on the Review's website (www.lambertrevlcw.Q-rR.uk) and the final report, will be submitted to Government shortly.