Title: Capacity development for intellectual property management in Canadian crop biotechnology

Authors: Nael Thaher; Helen Hambly Odame; Victoria Henson-Apollonio

Addresses: Faculty of Science, Zarqa University, P.O. Box 132222, Zarqa 13132, Jordan ' School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, N1G 2W1, Guelph, Ontario, Canada ' 1820 Fairmount Ave., Salem, Oregon, P.O. Box 97302, USA

Abstract: This paper examines capacity development approaches for intellectual property (IP) management in agricultural research and development (R&D). It identifies the major barriers, attitudes, skills and know-how needed by technology transfer specialists. The exploratory study collected data using a modified Delphi technique. The method involved two rounds of brainstorming by participants followed by their ranking of weighted and collated findings. In Round One, responses were collected from the expert group on a set of open-ended questions grouped according to thematic categories. In Round Two, respondents scored anonymous, collated responses based on their perceived importance using a five-point Likert scale. Most responses identified by the expert group were rated -important- and -very important- with a mean ranging from 4 to 5. The findings indicate that there is an identified need by the expert group for capacity building in IP management for improved agricultural R&D in Canada.

Keywords: agricultural research; capacity development; crop biotechnology; Likert scale; modified Delphi method; intellectual property rights; intellectual property management; public research institutions; qualitative analysis; technology transfer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2019.103031

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2019 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.287 - 314

Accepted: 20 Mar 2019
Published online: 14 Oct 2019 *

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