How universities can get academics to patent their own discoveries

29 Jul 2025 | News

A US university has created a tool that uncovers when research is cited commercially. Now they want Europeans to use it too

Photo credits: AndreyPopov / BigStock

The developers of a new tool that finds which patents cite academic research hope it can help scholars to patent their own discoveries, speeding up the translation of fundamental knowledge into real-world products. 

So far, only universities in the US have used the tool, but the hope is that the idea could expand worldwide, according to Dashun Wang, a professor focusing on the process of science at Northwestern University in Illinois, who has helped develop the technique.

“We have just started conversations with EU partners and those are ongoing,” he told Science|Business. 

Wang and his colleagues are trying to combine university datasets, coupled with artificial intelligence, to better turn academic research into usable innovation. 

There is a “tremendous amount of innovation potential hidden within the walls of every…