Paper Presentation at 14° ICABR Conference Ravello, Italy, June 16–18, 2010

Patents are a functional information tool in the study of agbiotech investments in research. Considering the complexity of pathways of IP protection (Pray and Naseem 2005) and the related increasing costs, our analysis aims to improve the knowledge of the international patent system, through the definition of an updated picture of agbiotech patent filed in UE and US, the two most significant innovation area worldwide, though presenting huge differences in managing IP rights. A specific focus is devoted to the public sector and the degree of public/private collaboration in the two systems. The paper provide a complex analysis of biotech patents patterns among EPO and USPTO starting from a comprehensive data set including more than 5000 patents filed in the period 2002-2009. The study is in accordance with the main findings of Graff et al. (2003) on public and private sector role in the American patent system; but we provide an updated and deeper analysis including the European one, focusing on patents concentration among sectors and sub-categories. The main preliminary findings show that the private sector is still dominant and market oriented, but reveals a partial shift from the first wave of innovations (mainly HT and IR) to a new one characterized by nutritional components. The role of public sector in agbiotech basic research is also confirmed, both in Europe and in US, and represents also a source of IP for innovative products. Public research is focused on plant developmental processes (i.e. plants with abiotic resistance) useful in specific agricultural landscapes