Patents from the Academe: A Methodology Research for the Analysis of University Patents and Preliminary Findings for Turkey

University patenting has been drawing attention of researchers studying university-industry relations, technology transfer mechanisms, changing research motives of the academe and consequences on their scientific performance. This study aims to develop a methodology for comprehensive analysis of university patents as the milestone of commercialization process of scientific knowledge produced by the academe, and evaluates preliminary findings for Turkey. For this purpose, patent applications at the Turkish Patent Institute are analyzed and a relational database is designed for storing university and researcher (academic inventor) characteristics, as well as industrial classification information of patents. In addition, interviews are conducted with academics in inventors list of patent applications to gather qualitative information about research activities and commercialization of patents. Results indicate that university patenting in Turkey is extremely low in number and commercialization is at its early stages. However, the results are based on very limited information, and with the aim developing a methodology, this study is open for further improvement in information gathering, as well as consistency in analyses.