ABSTRACT
Excellent academic research has always been the base for in-
novation, patenting, entrepreneurship, and the establishment of
new enterprises. This was the case for many companies around
the world, like the Swedish pharmaceutical companies Astra and
Pharmacia that were started during the early 1900s. Technology
transfer during those years was performed mostly through direct
research collaborations between academic scientists and compa-
nies, such as the Pharmacia collaboration between Professor Nanna
Svartz and Salazopyrin as well as the collaboration with the Nobel
Laureate Arne Tiselius, who was instrumental for various products
based on dextran. The StockholmUniversity professor Nils Lo¨fgren’s
novel local anesthetic substance lidocaine was key to establishing
Astra as the leading company in the field of local anesthesia.
Today, technology transfer offices (TTOs) have been established at
universities to handle intellectual property in the academic setting.
This is performed by activities to scout, identify, and develop
academic projects with commercial potential. The legal framework
varies from country to country. In most countries, intellectual
property rights (IPRs) are handled by TTOs at universities or similar
institutions, but Sweden is an exception. Swedish scientists own
their inventions and can freely choose how to handle IPRs related
to their academic research.
