This is how innovation management at BME gets smooth and efficient

As a result of the maintainer change at BME, almost all activities of the university will become more market-oriented, including the management of intellectual property. “To create a predictable, incentivising, and sustainable environment for innovation,” summarises the objectives Dávid Ujhelyi, the leader of the team formed last year and dealing with this area, who previously led the preparation of Hungarian competition law and intellectual property law legislation for nearly ten years. Operating within the Centre for Innovation Management and Cooperation (FIEK) of the Directorate of Research and Development at BME, the work of this organisational unit is also supported by intellectual property law specialists Zsófia Imre (on the right in the above image) and Barbara Kaposvári.

The duty of the IP (intellectual property) team is to ensure that during the transformation of scientific and engineering results generated at BME into social and economic value, 

not only is the institution’s domestic and international position strengthened, but also that lecturers and researchers are properly incentivised. 

One of the most obvious elements of incentive frameworks is the creator award, but sustainable innovation management can also be supported by the parallel application of numerous other tools: the duty of the Industrial Property Fund is to cover the financial aspects of obtaining protection, and there is also a legal advisory service available for research projects that facilitates the work of the university’s creators from the acquisition of protection to its utilisation. “The university's research activities are one of the drivers of domestic innovation, but they will only be sustainable if their operation is defined by a market and service-oriented approach,” said Dávid Ujhelyi to bme.hu.

To this end, systemic developments are currently in progress: a new Regulation on Intellectual Property Management, modernised acceptance procedures, updated and transparent forms, and contract templates are being prepared. “The entire innovation management system is being aligned with market needs; its operation is accelerating, and administration is becoming more efficient. This includes a review of inventor remuneration schemes. In addition, negotiations and approval for a framework agreement with a patent law firm are in progress, which will not only expedite and make the acquisition of protection more flexible but will also provide extremely valuable professional support in the protection procedures,” he added.

Based on the experiences collected so far, an increasing number of lecturers are expressing interest in the field, and their positive feedback suggests that they are receiving satisfactory information and administrative support. The new IP team is planning several beginner and advanced educational programmes in the near future to increase awareness of intellectual property law. 

Recently, a patent drafting workshop was organised, and it was so popular that additional sessions are planned.

An important objective is to ensure that research projects receive the necessary intellectual property law and business-oriented support at an early stage, which facilitates successful utilisation, as this contributes to ideas originating at the BME reaching practical application faster and at a higher rate. To this end, the team collaborates closely with BME Innolab Zrt., whose business activities include the sale of intellectual property.

“We place special emphasis on considering a wide range of utilisation aspects, and the expert opinion of BME Innolab Zrt. is great help, for instance, in determining the territorial scope for initiating the acquisition of protection.” “Meanwhile, we must also monitor the maintenance fees of each protection to see what and for how long it is worth keeping under protection,” explained Dávid Ujhelyi.

In response to our inquiry regarding the current innovations for which intellectual property rights registration is in progress, he stated that, in order to avoid disclosing any unpublished news, he cannot reveal any details; however, he did mention that last year BME submitted 20 new patent applications, which number is significantly higher than what the university committed to in the funding contract. “We, therefore, have every right to hope that the changes will strengthen the BME innovation ecosystem, enhance the university’s economic and social impact, and further improve the collaboration opportunities offered to industrial partners.”

Rector's Office, Directorate of Communications