The development of ecosystems for technology transfer in Mexico: the role of Patenting Centers

In this article, we evaluate an initiative recently launched by the national government in Mexico to create ‘Patenting Centers’ in various universities and research institutions in diverse regions of the country. We focus particularly on elucidating how the installation of these Patenting Centers has augmented the number of national filings for intellectual property (IP) protection, and how the Centers have contributed to increasing the quality of IP applications. Furthermore, we analyze how the Mexican Patenting Centers have qualitatively contributed to fostering local cultures of innovation, for example through capacity-building activities directed towards scientific researchers. We also attempt to understand how the Patenting Centers have supported processes of technology transfer and commercialization, which we evaluate by examining a case study from the Northwest Biological Research Center (CIBNOR). Our findings indicate that the Mexican Patenting Centers have contributed to increasing IP protection activity in various regions of the country, and that they have augmented interactions between public research institutions and the productive sector. We conclude with suggestions for how the Patenting Center model may be further assessed in the future, to ensure that the government's mission of fostering endogenous innovation and the creation of a knowledge-based economy may continue to be realized.