Success in technology transfer Registrations of invention and patents help strengthen the know - how

Besides the research results achieved it is the registrations of inventions and patents granted that are an important gauge of the competency of our institute. Also in the year 2004 IFW was able to continue its successful activities in this field. As at 31 December 2004 the institute can boast of a total of 135 patents registered within Germany and 109 patents granted abroad. In the year 2004 a total of 15 inventions were registered and patents applications filed for them; 7 patents were granted to IFW within Germany and 5 abroad in the year 2004. Noticeably, a European patent was granted on the subject of “superconductivity”. The co-operation with the “Research Patent” Patent Exploitation Agency (PVA) of the Fraunhofer (FhG) Munich Patent Centre was continued successfully and put into a new contractual framework. As at 31 December 2004 four inventions filed with PVA by IFW were rated as very valuable and promising with respect to their exploitability. Activities for their exploitation were put in hand. Of particular value in terms of their economic exploitability among the registrations of inventions are: • five registrations of inventions for improving the methods of manufacturing and applications of high-temperature superconductors • method for the manufacture and application of ferromagnetic carbon nanotubes in medical diagnostics and therapy • method by which the selection of useful signals in the field of magneticresonance spectroscopy can be considerably improved • nanolithography method of diamondlike carbon thin films (Fig. 1)