Non Service Invention: A Worrying Gold Mine

Holding several inventions failed to lead the rich and live hard. This is the general survival condition of our country's non duty inventors. Reporters at the China Invention Association learned that many of our non job inventors immersed themselves in inventions for several years, but several of them failed to turn into products. Some of them also carried hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt due to invention.

"No matter from the results of transformation or living conditions, many of our non job inventors are vulnerable groups and are generally in a difficult position." Lu Da Han, vice-chairman and Secretary General of China Invention Association, said.

Total volume is large but transformation is difficult.

Zou Dingguo, director of the invention and Entrepreneurship Promotion Center of the China Invention Association, said that the number of patents authorized by non service invention is more than 50% of the total amount of patent authorization in the whole country, which is an important part of China's scientific and technological achievements. In 2008 alone, there were more than 180 thousand authorized patents in China.

"When we investigated in Shanghai, we found that among the non job inventors, the number of returned overseas students, those who resigned from scientific research institutions and the retirees of research institutes were not small." Lu Da Han said that these non duty inventors held the half of the total amount of patent authorization in China without occupying the national scientific research investment. If these patents are effectively transformed, they will play a great role in improving the technological level and innovation ability of Chinese enterprises.

However, compared with the conversion rate of 80% and 90% of service invention results, the conversion rate of non service invention results is less than 10%. Most of the patents of non job inventors can not be transformed.

The power of folk innovation needs to be protected.

A non job inventor suffering from patent conversion is often deceived and infringed.

Non service inventors are struggling to find "family" with their own children, which leads criminals to take advantage of them. Zou Dingguo said that many non job inventors were eager to transform their achievements. Non formal intermediaries or fraudsters often praised their invention. They said that the market prospect of the invention was good, and it was favored by many VC companies. However, it was necessary to pay a certain fee for a technical assessment by a specialized evaluation institution.

"There are still many enterprises secretly using the patent of non job inventors, neither notice nor pay the cost, infringe upon the rights and interests of non job inventors." Many non job inventors are very angry about this.

At the same time, many non job inventors also consider the cost of patent application and maintenance as heavy burden. In the case of patent application fees, the duty inventor can receive various government grants, rather than the service inventions can receive very limited funding. Many non duty inventors make inventions at their own expense. When the results come out, they can not afford to apply for patent and maintain them. Non duty inventors want support from the government, but they are difficult to achieve at present.

It is reported that the industrialization of non service invention patents is facing special difficulties. There are two main reasons: first, the government does not attach enough importance to non service invention, and there are blind spots and vacancies in policy. Two, many non duty inventors overestimate the patent technology innovation, market prospect and economic value, and ask for too much price. At the same time, non service invention lacks necessary publicity, and good invention results in difficulty in transformation due to insufficient publicity.

Lu Da Han and Zou Dingguo both said that non service invention requires more care from the government. We should establish a mechanism and service system to promote the marketization and industrialization of non service invention achievements as soon as possible, which will play a positive role in stimulating non service invention creation and enterprise innovation.