Twenty-one products and processes developed by researchers at the National Research Institute of the Amazon (INPA) during its 50 years of existence have potential commercial value.
It is for this reason that the INPA’s Intellectual Property and Agribusiness Division, created a little more than two years ago, forwarded projects to two patent offices, located in Manaus and Rio de Janeiro.
According to Noélia Lúcia Falcão, head of the division, the purpose is to obtain financial returns for the INPA itself, as well to regulate the transfer of technology.
The INPA is not disclosing details on the products and processes in question. “I can only say that they have to do with the areas of cosmetics, food, and forest resources (wood and palm trees),” Falcão commented.
The INPA’s Intellectual Property and Agribusiness Division is intended to be the link between the institute and the productive sector in agriculture, industry, and services, with priority given to micro and small entrepreneurs.
In 2005 it obtained US$ 42,000 (100,000 reais) in funds from the National Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq) to invest over two years in the dissemination of the culture of intellectual property and patenting.
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