From Bench Science to Clinical Translation: Patents in Biomaterials.

Over the last few years, in many scientific disciplines there has been a strong accent on polarizing the research outcomes for the benefit of the society at large, rather than for restrict academic communities. In part, this is justified by the fact that most research is supported by taxpayers, but indepen-dently from economic aspects, the Science community is part of the society at large, and has the moral responsibil - ity to contribute to the overall well-being and progress. This tendency is particularly strong in the biomedical field, where clinical translation has become a leitmotif. Intellectual property and patenting are key steps along the clinical trans-lation path; however, researchers trained through a purely academic background sometimes have a blurry idea of these aspects or tend to neglect them. In this lecture, a few basic concepts on patenting will be introduced, including what a patent is and what a patent is not, and the difference be - tween discovery, invention, and patentable invention will be illustrated. Typical mistakes to avoid throughout the process will be presented. The difference between drafting a scien-tific paper and drafting a patent will be highlighted, with a particular emphasis on the use of terminology. The steps be - tween filing a patent and granting will be illustrated in the European framework. Finally, the process of patenting will be put in the wider context of Biomaterials Science and its clinical translation.