Intellectual property and public research in biotechnology: the scientists opinion

Brazil is considered to have an immature national innovation system. One significant situation that contributes to it is that Brazil concentrates its research efforts and inventiveness in academic environments, while the private sector has very little access to this activity. Measures are being taken to correct this situation. Nevertheless, scientists' attitudes towards the new situation will be instrumental for the success of such measures. For this reason, we have studied the behavior of Brazilian scientists from the biotechnological fields concerning Intellectual Property Rights. In this research 1032 researchers were electronically contacted and 150 responded. The 41 questions include indicators about the interviewees' perceptions about their institutions' support for patenting research results, their attitudes towards recent changes in Intellectual Property Rights legislation and about the interaction of researchers with demands from external interests.