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.