Who gets the patent? Academic origin and ownership transfer in Norwegian life-sciences patenting 2003-2024

Abstract One of the core Europe`s competitiveness debates has been about its academic institution`s ability to turn research into technology. This study addresses commercialization of life-science research in Norway and investigates to what degree academia transfers ownership of its protected scientific inventions, counted as academic patents, to commercial owners. Studies of academic patenting often count filings or trace the citations they attract; few follow what happens to the patents themselves. We follow the patents across a 20 year period, starting with the ownership reform introduced in 2003 which removed the professor`s privilege. We identify 827 academic patent families with priority dates 2003–2024 and classify each by its owner at filing: university, university hospital, public research institute, technology transfer office (TTO), or individual academic inventor. Our findings show that 8.2 per cent had transferred to a firm, but rates differ sharply by origin. TTO-held patents transferred least, at 1.1 per cent, while individual academic inventors, the route the ownership reform was designed to replace, transferred most, at 28.6 per cent. The TTO portfolio shows the highest share of retained patents still in force, and the patents the offices maintain score high on quality indicators. We discuss limitations and future research needed to uncover the mechanisms behind commercialization motivation, and suggest implications for innovation policies beyond the ownership model.