There are also brokers for scientific and technological innovations? Next year, Chongqing technology brokers are expected to exceed 1,000

Ever heard of star agents, did you know that technology also has agents?

On December 23rd, under the guidance of Chongqing Academy of Science and Technology, Chongqing Jiangbei District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau (Intellectual Property Office) and Chongqing Jiangbei District Science and Technology Bureau sponsored the "Jiangbei District Operation Talent Training Class for Junior Technical Brokers Special Training" was held. The reporter learned on the spot that next year, Chongqing's junior and above technical brokers will exceed 1,000 people.

What do technology brokers do?

A pathfinder who promotes the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in the "last mile"

"Simply put, they are professionals who engage in technology transfer intermediary services, etc., for the purpose of promoting the transformation of intellectual property rights, and obtain reasonable commissions." Liu Yongsheng, deputy director of the Chongqing Jiangbei District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau (Intellectual Property Office), introduced that technology brokers are an important part of intellectual property professionals, an important link between achievements and needs, and play a very important role in the transfer and transformation of intellectual property achievements.

"For us, technology is our star." Zhang Fan, who has just been identified as a junior technology broker this year, made an image analogy.

In Zhang Fan's view, technology brokers solve the problems of "can't find", "talk about it" and "difficult to land" in the process of transforming scientific and technological achievements, and are the "last kilometer" pathfinders to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

"The work that technology brokers undertake in the technology transfer process is not as simple as matching transactions, and a complete technology transfer process is complex and time-consuming. As a technology broker, we need to 'attack the city' on the demand side, grasp what technologies the market needs, and at the same time, we also need to 'accumulate grain' on the technology supply side, and know what scientific and technological achievements are in scientific research institutions, universities, etc. Zhang Fan said.

High barrier to entry

There are less than 600 junior technical brokers in Chongqing

However, becoming a qualified technology broker is not easy.

Huang Shang, training and promotion manager of Jiangbei Intellectual Property Operation Public Service Platform, introduced that due to the cross-border communication between scientific research institutions and enterprises, from the perspective of professional ability, technical brokers need to be proficient in technology, understand business operations, and need to be familiar with legal and accounting knowledge. Therefore, the trainees are all people with basic knowledge of intellectual property, such as the heads of technology-based enterprises, market managers and heads of intellectual property-related work, etc. After training, professional certification is also required to become a qualified technology broker.

Taking this special training as an example, the training cycle will last from December 23, 2021 to January 12, 2022, and the whole process will be carried out in the mode of "offline centralized course opening + multi-platform linkage online learning + online examination", and the content of the training is also very broad and professional, including intellectual property laws and regulations, technology commodities, technology markets, capital and fund operations, high-value patent operations, technology marketing and other professional technology transfer service capabilities.

The reporter learned that due to the "high threshold for entering the circle", at present, from the perspective of the whole country, the gap of technical brokers is large.

According to the information of the Torch Data Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the current market for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in China is very large, as of December 31, 2020, China has registered 549353 technology contracts, with a transaction amount of 2825.151 billion yuan, an increase of 13.48% and 26.13% respectively over the previous year. However, at the same time, the number of competent technical managers is seriously insufficient, and only tens of thousands of people have received technical manager training in China.

"The transformation of scientific and technological achievements is an important engine for accelerating innovation-driven development, but the transformation of scientific and technological achievements has so far been a problem in the world, and one of these problems is the transfer of achievements and the transformation of professional and technical talents - there is a serious shortage of technology brokers." At the opening ceremony, Li Xiaolin, director of the Technology Evaluation and Transfer Service Center of Chongqing Academy of Science and Technology, introduced that since Chongqing launched the training and certification of technology brokers last year, so far, 592 primary technology brokers have been cultivated, of which 38 are intermediate technology brokers, which is far from enough.

Increase the intensity of training

Next year, Chongqing technology brokers intend to exceed 1,000 people

Li Xiaolin said that in recent years, the state has attached great importance to the training of professional and technical talents in the transfer and transformation of achievements, and Chongqing has also launched a series of measures. For example, in order to strengthen the construction of the technical broker talent team, the "Chongqing Technical Broker Professional Title Declaration Conditions (Draft for Comment)" has been released this year, and the technical brokers have been included in the title evaluation.

"We will also increase our training efforts." Li Xiaolin introduced that next year, Chongqing's junior and above technical brokers intend to exceed 1,000 people, of which the intermediate level intends to reach more than 100 people. The Chongqing Academy of Science and Technology will also carry out the return of junior personnel, and continuously improve the quality of technical brokers by holding intermediate classes, improvement classes, practical exercises, case explanations, salons, seminars and other forms. At the same time, it is also preparing for the selection of "Top Ten Achievement Transformation Institutions" and "Top Ten Technology Brokers" in Chongqing in 2021, which will continue to be carried out every year in the future.

Liu Yongsheng also said that in order to help local governments, industry organizations, enterprises and institutions and scientific research institutes to improve the level of intellectual property creation, application, protection, management and service levels of intellectual property rights, Jiangbei District will also provide intellectual property training services on a regular basis, train intellectual property operation talents such as technical brokers, and build an intellectual property training system with Jiangbei characteristics. For example, this special training for junior technical brokers is one of the series of courses for intellectual property operation talents in Jiangbei District.

Upstream journalist Sun Qiongying