DOHA: Aspects to be considered and steps needed by researchers from inventions to innovations were discussed at the fourth Academic Health System Lecture in 2014 at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
Obtaining intellectual property rights to new inventions, which will exclude others from copying them, and enable firms and individuals to invest resources needed to transform them to innovations, were discussed by Dr Erik Stenehjem, Executive Director, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, at Qatar Foundation.
“Inventions are ideas created by research, while innovations are products available to all of us, such as new therapies or treatments for diseases. Strengthening competitiveness in transforming inventions into innovations is very important to HMC because it is conducting a lot of research. In addition to the practice of medicine, doctors are involved in the development of new tools, methods and medical procedures, and all these have the potential to be moved into the market as innovations,” he said.
Prior to his appointment at QF in March 2013, Dr Stenehjem was director of the US-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s industrial partnerships office, responsible for moving leading-edge technologies developed by laboratory scientists and engineers into the marketplace.
The Peninsula
