Interlectual Property in the Science Industry

The final guest lecturer was Blake Prime who specialises in intellectual property (IP) management in the chemical industry. To start Blake defined IP as creations of the mind which can be inventions, art, literature, symbols etc. then he distinguished between the main IP types, these are patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and designs.

IP’s are protected by law and allows people to retain recognition and financial benefit of something they have crated and is designed to create an environment that people can safely be creative and develop ideas. Patents define how things work, trademarks are brands and logos, copyright covers areas like art, literature, software etc., and trade secrets are confidential information like the coca cola formula and design is how something looks.

A patent allows you to claim the IP on something that is crated e.g. a chemical which you own the right to for 20 years. Blake stated that this is incredibly important for industries like pharmaceuticals because hundreds of millions of pounds is spent on research and development. This 20 year period allows those millions of pounds to be recouped, there is also the chance to extend the patient for 5 years if due to the patent process chemical structures are revealed too early.

For something to be patented it was to be novel so that it is not known by anyone but the creators and inventive so that it is not obvious to someone who is well trained in that area of specialty. The chemical company BASF patient around 1,000 product per year and to date have recorded 300,000 this shows how many unique products that a single company can make.

Blake further highlighted the financial impact patients have by using Viagra as an example. When Viagra was first patented it produced sales revenue of around $2 billion per year, when the patient ran out in 2013 sales in Europe, japan and Australia fell from $472 million to $146 million because other companies could use the chemical to make their own products which other people can buy.

            Trademarks are unique design that acts as a recognizable logo for products and services e.g. the apple logo. Trade secrets are confidential information that give a company an advantage this can be a secret formula, company list or method of production. All though they are secret it is perfectly legal for products to be reversed engineered and other companies to use this information.

            Copyright is the probably the most common legal IP protection that people know as it applies to creative work. This can be software code, films, TV shows, books etc.

            Over all this is wasn’t the most dynamic subject to learn about but it still had interesting information especially about the patient and copyright side of industries. Though I understand the desire to make things like medication cheap for people I also understand that companies need to recoup the cost of research which they then reinvest and how secrecy is important when designing something like drugs or creative work because when the information becomes public it can be a race to have designs and information patented.

Darren Budd from BSF

Darren Budd visited the University to talk to us today, Darren is the commercial director of BSF and came to talk to us about his experience, what BSF do and our own careers.

He gained a degree in chemistry and decided to move his career into venture capitalism where he studied five years in Germany. After that he started working for BSF where he progressed within the company to become commercial director. He informed us that BSF is a materials company and that they produce products that apply to everything from the fabrics making our seats to treated photo paper.

He gave us an example of how science and business meet. He told is that BSF worked on making a beer bottle that was blue, traditionally beer bottles need to be protected from UV light to keep it at a good quality, the coating that protects from UV light is brown but they needed to create one that was blue. This is where the business side comes into play, they needed to create the blue coating because women who were surveyed said they didn’t like drinking from a brown beer bottles but would if it was a more pleasant colour like blue.

He tried to engage with the class by asking what we wanted and then specifically chose a student and asked what they wanted do to after the course had finished, I said that it was a bit harsh to put her on the spot like that and he replied by saying that this will happen to us in the science and business environment. This is a fair point and although it feel awkward being put on the spot like that it is something we have to get use to outside of academia. Steve made a reassuring comment that at this time in his education his aim was to go see Barcelona play and at the summer did someone’s patio so that’s reassuring to know that someone as professional as Steve was in that place.  

This developed into careers advice which is always helpful. Darren suggested that we consider all careers in science and especially outside of science. Being open to working in various areas in science will increase our opportunities. He also put an emphasis of working outside of science like banking or insurance, doing a science degree reflects that we have good skills because the course is so demanding technical and that we will have skills that a lot of industry’s will find desirable.

We were told that though there is demand for scientists the competition is fierce and that it’s important to try and stand out from the crowd like having experience and they recognise the skills from previous experience and value people who have worked in STEM. Finally he said that basic skills like learning to interact with people one to one and having good communication skills and making eye contact is extremely important. I found this talk interesting that because Darren is such a highly promoted professional and information from his perspective is always insightful, while I didn’t like the idea of putting people on the spot about our ambitions it is some thing we will have to be use to and it gives us some thing to think about in terms of our ambitions, he provided good careers examples and interview techniques which is always good to have.

sciecne, jobs and the future

James Ward was the guest lecturer on November 29^th and came to talk to us about his own experience future job markets. James was a guy full of energy and character, he had a confidence that reflected his experience which helped create an interesting talk.

He began by talking about his hero James Joule who was from Salford and was educated as a physicist. Joules researched heat and his work contributed to the laws of conservation and thermodynamics, Joules is a celebrated scientists who has had a unit named after him that measured the exchange of energy when gravity is applied to it. James encouraged us to think about what we would like in life from his perspective you can be a driver, passenger and baggage. This is an analogy to the type of person you will be in life, baggage is the person who is lead or carried. Passenger is someone who follows and finally a driver is someone who are well motivated, takes control of their life a try their best to get what they want. In knowing this we can recognise our own strengths and weaknesses and if were motivated enough change this so we can get what we want in our life.

He was very encouraging in promoting STEM and how it is important that we encourage the next generation and teach them if we want the health, technological and social benefits that science offers. He emphasised that there is a desperate need for more teachers in science and that it is very rewarding and there are significant financial incentives available.

Moving on to social development he shown us technology from when he was younger like Irons that were placed over fires to heat them or and a washing dolly that was used to clean clothes manually which was time and energy consuming. He then compared this to today’s washing machine that can wash 9 kilo’s in 1 hour to show how much technology has changed since he was younger.

He then told us about his education and how he was lucky and smart enough to be selected to a better school then what was open to many people his age at that time and that he has chaired various organisations and charities that has worked with communities and government to help shape the how policy towards science is developed.

He talked about the Salford quays as an example of how society and work demands changes over time. In the past the quays were used as docks that received goods from the ports at Liverpool bringing in international goods. After the use of canals for transporting goods had stopped the docks became obsolete to faster methods and the industry declined and jobs were lost. Though this is unfortunate he said that this was not the end but a change and that the area was redeveloped for leisure and is thriving now as it is the location if the media city.

I found James to be a great example of someone with a strong and positive outlook on society. Though I would have a more cynically view on things his encouraging nature was very encouraging and I respected his experience and intelligence. Above all I enjoyed that he was telling us to push ourselves for the better and for the things we want in life and that we should always engage by joining societies like the British science association and taking part in STEM and finally to really fight for what we want in our careers.

Health and Safety

On November 15^th Carole Conroy came to talk about health and safety. She is a charted safety and health practitioner and teaches occupational safety at master’s level at Salford University. She started by trying to get some sort of engagement from us by asking what occupation risks there are and how it can affect people’s health. This was an OK way to get some sort of interaction from people but she probably didn’t get the interaction she would have liked but we kind of know how dangerous work environments can be especially working in labs.

We were told about an Italian man called Ramazzini who is considered to be the founder of occupational medicine. He studied trade diseases and advised doctors to ask patients about their occupations and in doing this in his own way eh created the first style of health and safety examination. She then addressed the industrial revolution which created dangerous environments like factory’s and mines and the change in the way that item were produced added to the dangers creating hazards chemically, physically with long working hours. This environment lead to conditions like infectious diseases, physical injury’s and mental illnesses. An example of this is people who made hats in the 1800’s used mercury in their production and exposure to this without protection lead to mental and physical illness. Carole then moved on to talk about the statistics of injury.

The number of non-fatal injuries in the work place in the UK for 2013/2014 - 2015/2016 was estimated to be over 622,000 people, over 196,000 of these cases were from random accidents but the most prominent one comes from lifting and handling. The number of fatalities in the UK work place in 2015/2016 was 144, from these the most prominent cause of death was from falling from great heights. The most distressing statistic comes from many deaths occur from diseases that have come from the work environment, this is estimated to be over 11,000, this is caused by cancers such as lung cancer and asbestos. From an economical side she told us that the amount of working days lost in 2014/2015 was 27.4 million days due to illness or work place injury which averages at about 15 days off per person and the economic cost to the UK for the year 2014/2015 was £14.1 billion with £8 billion of this coming out of the individuals pocket, £3.3 billion from government and £2.8 billion from employers.

Carole made this relevant to us by highlighting the number of injuries in the pharmaceutical industry which is over 570 people with the largest amount coming handing heavy goods. She developed this further  by showing examples of bad lab practices that can cause injury over the long term from things like stooping, reaching and twisting and that these can lead to things like back problems but can be overcome by having a better ergonomic environment and using COSHH.

On the surface talking about health and safety seems like it would be the most boring thing especially when society views the culture of it with such contempt but I found parts of this interesting especially the parts that were relative, I completely get how after an hour stooping you really feel it in the back and when you stand up straight it feels like a massive relief and that I will want to take my work environment into consideration when it comes to the long term. It was also sad to know that such a high number of people die in what could be in needless ways and all though we complain about health and safety when it wasn’t so prominent in the past people get diseases like asbestos poisoning and were forced to work exhausting hours. From this I feel like I’ve taken away a new appreciation for health and safety I know when I’m being informed about how to lift and signing endless paper work that it’s based on legislation that people would have done anything for in the past so I should have some appreciation for this.

Semi conductors for chemistry students

Richard Pilkington came to the lesson today to talk about the semi-conductor industry and how it can apply to chemistry/biochemistry students like our selves. He started by saying that transistors were first created in 1947 by William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in America.

A transistor is made of an oxidative layer on the top of an n-type silicon (elements such as phosphorous) and contained inside a p - type silicon (elements such as boron). Silicon is a semi-conductor that which means that it is a material element that acts in the middle ground of plastics and metals in terms of its ability to conduct electricity. The N- type provides free electrons that can carry electrical currents and encourage the flow out of the transistor whereas the P-type has fewer free electrons that encourages electrons to flow into it. When a current flows into a transistor this method amplifies the current that is passing through it.

             After this we were told of Moors law which states that “transistor density on integrated boards doubles every two years” this means that the technology gets smaller and better every two years and he provided us with electrical equipment from 30 years ago that had 16 transistors which is very minor compared to today’s levels such as 256 billion transistors (wow!!!) that are used in iPod’s, this shows how essential the progression of this technology is, it has become some integrated into our everyday lives without realising it. Silicon is the second most abundant element on earth after oxygen and makes 25% of the earth’s crust and can be used in this way in many areas. One of the most prominent technologies that people will hopefully benefit from is in the use of solar panels. Silicon is ideal for this because its abundance makes it cheap and it has a very long life span.

The silicon substrate is made by SiO₂ + C = Si + CO₂, this is done in a 1900 c degree furnace which gives metallurgical grade Si. The Si then goes through purification process of Si + 3HCL = SiHCL₃ + H₂. In the final stage the silicon is refined to reduce impurities through SIHCL₃ + H₂ = Si + 3HCL. He showed us a sample of the refined silicon and it was interesting to handle this because I take for granted such materials but holding such a heavy amount was interesting because I could feel the weight that I did not expect and it was as reflective as a mirror. At the end of his presentation someone asked about how this area could apply to biochemistry and he stated that because our course covers subjects like genetics and physiology we would be in great demand because this area of technology is looking to move into physiology and medicine and biochemists will be needed to bridge the gap of knowledge.

I found this area extremely interesting because it was exploring the engineering side of science and it was good to see how chemistry applies to engineering instead of the biological side of it. I would have liked to know who are these people who are in need of biochemists in this industry, it’s all good saying that people will want my knowledge and skills but I would like to know who these companies are and how I can apply for work with them.

Using social media

Jenny Warburton came to lesson today to talk about how social media can affect our career path. She was very engaging and it didn’t feel like she was saying anything that was irrelevant to the people present in the lesson. Employers these days often look up prospective employee’s social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, this seems to be so they can get an idea of a person’s character outside of the interviewing environment. Doing this gives them a more accurate idea of what a person is like, if someone’s Facebook constantly has pictures of them drunk covered in puke or has inflammatory language/ideas employers may choose not to hire you because they may view you as a person who might act unprofessional with others or if you’re a heavy drinker they might think you will come to work hungover or have frequent absences.

They may also be concerned about how a person’s individual behaviour reflects on the company they work for and don’t want to be associated with that person if they do something controversial.

An example of this is when in 2013 a girl who was hired to be a youth police and crime commissioner was quit under public pressure because people found language on her social media account from the past that was considered to be racist and homophobic. Many people in the public did not think that this girl should have been able to hold such a public position that is meant to represent and consider the whole of society while she says such things that reflects her thoughts. Because of public pressure she decided to quit her position but the Kent police force came under a lot of pressure for not vetting her properly, she had CRB checks but they did not look at her social media which people considered irresponsible on their behalf furthermore it is likely that she would have been fired for this if she had not of quit.

From this I took away that while we have freedom of speech and free will having an open social media account or excepting a lot of people means that you put yourself out their as a public figure and are judged in the same way and people will define you by what you put on their.

Jenny then moved on to talk about how LinkedIn can help us get work with in our respective industries, she explained that it is similar to other social network sites but this is a purely professional one that is designed for people to make connections with other professionals and company’s and that we might be able to find employment through this system as it is becoming increasing popular way for employers to find the staff they want, Steve also told us that last year 2 graduates were offered positions based on the LinkedIn profile they set up.

I found this very encouraging because it’s hard to know where to start when looking for a job in the science industry and this is a very encouraging starting point. Over all the lesson was very informative and encouraging, the first side of lesson didn’t really apply to me because I don’t have any social media but it was something important for others to consider.