New ASTP report highlights the need for stronger recognition of knowledge transfer professionals

Europe's competitiveness depends not only on research, but on turning scientific discoveries into technologies and products that reach the market. Technology transfer offices (TTOs) – specialised units within universities, public research organisations (PROs) and research hospitals – help make this happen by identifying promising inventions, protecting the underlying intellectual property, and connecting researchers with the industry partners and investors.

A new study released today by the EPO Observatory, in collaboration with ASTP, Europe’s knowledge transfer association, and Fraunhofer ISI, provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of how well-equipped Europe is to facilitate the journey from research to market. The study combines EPO patent data, an analysis of academic inventions developed with Fraunhofer ISI, the responses of more than 800 European TTOs to ASTP’s survey, and interviews with 22 technology-transfer professionals across Europe.

The findings highlight both the need for continued investment in TTO capacity and the potential for institutions and countries to share expertise, information, tools and networks.

Commenting on the study, EPO President António Campinos said: “Technology transfer is a competitiveness issue. Europe’s universities and public research organisations are at the forefront of scientific discovery, but breakthroughs must move from the lab to the market if they are to create jobs, growth and strategic autonomy. This means strengthening technology transfer, improving access to finance and building a more integrated single market for innovation. The study presented today identifies six priorities to help Europe turn research excellence into market success”.

While most European TTOs are small, there are significant differences in capacity

Around 90% of the 809 TTOs studied are small or mid-scale. On average, the large-scale offices have six times more staff, support institutions with 23 times more research expenditure and nearly seven times the research workforce and receive almost 16 times more invention disclosures than their smaller counterparts.

Yet once an invention enters the TTO pipeline, small and mid-scale offices are no less likely than larger ones to move it towards a patent, licence or new venture. Larger offices’ advantage lies in handling more activity per staff member – a reflection of specialist expertise, established processes and stronger commercial networks.

Connecting research, expertise and investors across Europe

The study suggests that local TTOs can strengthen their capacity by drawing on wider expertise, finance and market networks, given that most do not have the resources to maintain every specialist commercialisation capability in-house. The data reveals the scope for a model where close contact with researchers remains local. Meanwhile, specialist market knowledge, technology intelligence, training and investor networks can be accessed at regional, national or European level – through networks such as ASTP and the PATLIB patent information centres.

Global impact of academic patents increases, TTOs become even more strategic

Europe is now at an important moment, as European research institutions take direct ownership of more of their inventions in technology fields that are key to Europe’s competitiveness. Looking at European patent applications originating in Europe in 2025, European research institutions accounted for 34% of those in biotechnology, 29% in quantum technologies and 26% in pharmaceuticals.

This means that the capacity of European TTOs to help bring inventions to market is becoming increasingly strategic in the global innovation race. The US has built a mature technology-transfer ecosystem over several decades, ever since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, after which US universities have generally been able to retain ownership of inventions resulting from federally funded research and commercialise them. Meanwhile, P.R. China is continuing to rapidly expand Chinese university patenting and strengthen policy support for the commercialisation of their academic inventions, as most recently seen in the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan of March 2026.

The EPO’s first in-depth, direct comparison of European and US academic filings shows that Europe has largely caught up with the US: academic patents – those linked to university research – rose from around 5% of all European patents in 2000 to 9% in 2020, close to the US level. Direct university filings in Europe also more than doubled, reaching around 53% of all European academic patents in 2020. However, keeping patents in force over time remains a challenge: with 40.7% of directly owned European academic patents lapsing within ten years, compared to 26.3% in academic patents from US universities.

Want to explore the public research ecosystem in more detail?

The new interactive Data Desk dashboard on "Research institutions in collaboration" enables users to explore the study’s underlying data on patenting activity around the world in more detail, including by institution, country and region. This data identifies not only first-named applicants (as is conventionally the case with most other EPO statistics) but all contributing applicants, providing more comprehensive insights into the technology transfer landscape than ever before.

The EPO’s Deep Tech Finder has also received a major update. As a result, it is more user friendly and features thousands of additional entities and investor connections. In total, the tool now maps more than 20 000 patent-active startups, 4 200 spinouts, 900 universities, 350 PROs and almost 15 000 investors across Europe.

Join the EPO Observatory and several public research sector leaders during the live event today at 13.00 hrs CEST or watch the recording to learn more.

Further information

• Full report: Europe's technology transfer landscape
  
• ASTP KT Metrics Executive Data Reports
• ASTP National Associations Advisory Committee (NAAC) Knowledge and Technology Transfer Metrics Report 
• Data Desk dashboard: Research institutions in collaboration
• Online event today at 13:00 hrs: “Europe's technology transfer challenge: turning research into market success”
• PATLIB patent information centre network
• EPO Observatory on Patents and Technology