Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1.3
Numbers of scientific articles on biology of drought and stress tolerance published per
year, by country of main author affiliation. (Data source: Web of Science, Thomson Innovation
2011)
number of scientific publications from authors based in China rivalled the number
from authors in all of Europe.
It is clear from the dynamics at the discovery stage, as revealed in the rates of
scientific publication, that the early stages of the crop genetics R&D pipeline are
rich with candidate traits, technologies, and potential breeding stock that should be
advancing towards commercialization over the next few years. The rate at which
this advance might be expected to occur, however, is suggested by trends observed
using the other R&D indicators.
3.2 Activity in Early-Stage Development: Patenting Trends
Patents, as described above, are sought to protect against the copying of an inven-
tion by others, in order to maintain some degree of appropriability of the value of
that invention by the patent holder. Inventions eligible for being patented must be
truly inventive (not just an obvious extension of the current state-of-the-art), they
must be novel (i.e., not already published), and they must be shown to be of some
utility in human commerce or industry. Patents are not granted for discoveries of
