The South African Survey of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Publicly Funded Research Institutions is the inaugural baseline survey, which was conducted as an initiative of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), with project implementation by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CESTII) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
The survey establishes baseline indicators required to track overall activity in Intellectual Property (IP) management and Technology Transfer (TT) at publicly funded research institutions in South Africa. The study period starts in 2008, the year when the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act (IPR Act) was passed, and runs to 2014. The survey targeted all institutions as defined in the IPR Act, which are the 23 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the 10 Schedule 1 institutions or Science Councils (SCs).
The survey instrument was initially based on a similar survey in the United States of America (USA), which was undertaken by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). An oversight committee consisting of members from SARIMA, NIPMO, DST and CeSTII was established to assist with adaptation of the instrument to the South African context.
