Analyses and studies

2 periodic reports were published by the Directorate during the reference period:

• The "Patent Report 2024", published in March 2025, highlights an increase of 7.4% compared to 2023 in patents applications for industrial invention filed with UIBM in 2024, totalling 10,148 applications.
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  9,027 national titles were granted, to which are added the patents granted by UIBM – both for inventions and utility models – following the opening of the national examination phase of international patent applications. 20,821 European patent validations were also recorded. Of particular significance is the number of examination requests submitted to UIBM for international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, demonstrating the growing interest in the Italian market on the part of foreign companies, particularly on those from China, Switzerland, Germany and the United States.
• The "IPERICO Report 2025" provides an analysis of data on counterfeiting seizures carried out by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli) and the Guardia di Finanza for the year 2024.
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  Consolidated and published by the Directorate in the IPERICO database (excluding Food, Beverages, Tobacco and Medicines). For the 2024 reference year, the data show: 22,606 seizures carried out in Italy, up 27.8% compared to the previous year; 36.1 million items seized (-47.4% compared to 2023); an estimated economic value of the seized goods of 257.4 million euros (+37% compared to 2023).

In 2025, the Directorate also collaborated on 2 international studies produced by the European Patent Office (EPO), together with European national patent offices:

• The second edition "New Frontiers in Oncology", published in February, analyses growing technological fields and highlights for Italy.
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  A sixth place in Europe for patent families linked to oncology, with over 1,100 patent families registered in the period 2010–2021, accounting for a share of more than 1% of the total. More specifically, between 2017 and 2021, Italy held a share of 4.6% of all oncology technologies patented in Europe. Italy also exceeds the EU average for the number of start-ups linked to the fight against cancer, standing out with a total of 80 oncology-related start-ups, above the EU average of 48.9 start-ups per country.
• "The Role of European Public Research in Patenting and Innovation", published in October, extends its pioneering 2024 analysis of European universities.
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  By including, for the first time, Public Research Organisations and Research Hospitals (PROs). Italy, despite having made an absolute contribution lower than that of the leading countries, with Italian PROs exceeding 1,000 EP applications in the period 2001–2020, holds a more modest share (2.0%) of total EP applications. Among the leading Italian Public Research Organisations (2001–2020), the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche — CNR) stands out with 432 patents, followed by the Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) with 266. Italy is also notable for its high share of Private Non-Profit Organisations (PNPs), amounting to 45.6% within the PRO patent landscape, a unique figure in Europe. Italian Research Hospitals contributed 577 patent filings in the period 2001–2020. Italy ranks fourth in Europe for the number of patent applications from universities. Italian academic patents account for 8.6% of total applications submitted by Italian applicants in the period 2000–2020. The leading Italian universities are the Polytechnic University of Milan, the University of Milan and Sapienza University of Rome. Between 2015 and 2019, start-ups based in Italy filed European patent applications for academic inventions, recording the fifth highest number in Europe, confirming the strength of the technology transfer process.

The DGPI-UIBM produced its first technical seminar on IP and technology transfer, accompanied by the following studies and reports:

• "The Impact of the First Proof of Concept (POC) Call Five Years On"
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  This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the POC Call more than five years after its introduction as a policy measure promoted by MISE (now MIMIT) through the UIBM, with Invitalia as the managing body. The objective of the Call was to support the valorisation of patents and early-stage technologies originating from universities, Public Research Bodies (PBRs) and Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalisation and Healthcare (IRCCS), bridging the gap between research and market. Launched for the first time in 2019 with an initial allocation of 5.3 million euros, the Call aimed to strengthen technology transfer in Italy, support high-potential yet early-stage technologies and enhance the role of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). The incentive measure and the consequent increasingly widespread introduction of PoC schemes within universities, PRBs and IRCCS have made a significant contribution to a process of reconfiguring the way technology transfer is carried out within the Italian research system.
• "Technical Support Service — Impact Assessment of the Brevetti+ Measure"
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  This study highlights how, in a national context characterised by R&D investment below the EU average and difficulties in translating innovation into economic value, the Patent+ [Brevetti+] measure, promoted by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and managed by Invitalia, supports micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative start-ups in the economic valorisation of industrial invention patents, through non-repayable grants of up to 140,000 euros for the purchase of specialised services. The impact assessment, conducted for the 2020–2021 period, analysed over 69 million euros of allocated resources using an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach. Beneficiary companies are predominantly micro-enterprises with a high propensity for innovation, concentrated mainly in Northern Italy but with a significant presence in the South, active primarily in technology manufacturing, scientific activities and ICT. The high level of demand is evidenced by the rapid exhaustion of funds. Surveys indicate a high degree of satisfaction (90%) and positive impacts on technological maturity, internal competencies, R&D investment and new product development. The measure has often accelerated the timing and intensity of investments, proving particularly enabling for smaller companies or those with limited patent experience. The analysis confirms significant effects on patent activity and intangible assets, while the economic and financial impacts appear more gradual. Overall, Patents+ is confirmed as a strategic instrument for strengthening the competitiveness and innovation capacity of Italian SMEs.
• "Report on the Results of the First UTT Call" and "Report on the Results of the Second UTT Call"
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  The two studies analyse the impacts of the two editions of the UTT Call, Technology Transfer Offices (Uffici di Trasferimento Tecnologico), promoted by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy through the DGPI-UIBM, one of the main structural policy measures for strengthening technology transfer within the Italian public research system. Launched for the first time in 2015 and subsequently refinanced and expanded, the Call's central objective was to enhance the organisational and operational capacity of the TTOs of universities, Public Research Bodies (PRBs) and, in the second cycle, IRCCSs as well, acting directly on human capital and competencies. The measure introduced and consolidated two key professional profiles within the TTOs: the Knowledge Transfer Manager (KTM) and the Innovation Promoter (IP), figures dedicated respectively to the scouting and evaluation of research outputs and to their industrial and commercial valorisation. The results of the first two UTT Calls (2016–2017 and 2018–2020) highlight a significant impact on the national ecosystem: a total of over 120 projects were funded for a combined amount of 4 million euros, and over 170 qualified professionals were placed within the TTOs of more than 50 research institutions, contributing to the identification and evaluation of thousands of research outputs, the intensification of contacts with businesses, particularly SMEs, and the conclusion of numerous licensing, option and industrial collaboration agreements. In both cycles, final expenditure systematically exceeded projected figures, indicating a high degree of adaptability and growing maturity among the beneficiary TTOs. Over the medium to long term, the UTT Call has produced a systemic effect that goes beyond individual quantitative outputs: it has contributed to the professionalisation of technology transfer, the dissemination of a more robust intellectual property culture, the strengthening of networks between research and industry, and the progressive integration of technology transfer into the so-called "fourth mission" of universities and public research bodies. In this regard, the UTT Call anticipated and accompanied the evolution of national innovation policies, serving as a complementary and enabling measure alongside other MIMIT instruments such as PoC and Patents+, and representing one of the structural foundations upon which the more recent NRRP reform and investment framework has been built.
• "Analysis of the Level of Knowledge of Industrial Property Among SMEs" – the two editions of the analysis, one published in 2021 and the most recent in 2024.
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  Arise from a research activity involving the evaluation of questionnaires drawn up by the Technology Transfer Offices of universities, Public Research Bodies (PRBs) and Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalisation and Healthcare (IRCCSs) relating to visits carried out at Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective of both studies is to highlight the knowledge and capabilities of Italian SMEs regarding IP protection instruments, also with a view to providing information that may help to guide political and institutional action in favour of an ever-greater understanding, use and valorisation of the body of codified, and tacit, knowledge of which the Italian business community is an extensive custodian.