Inova Unicamp — University of Campinas Technology Transfer Agency

Inova Unicamp is the technology-transfer and innovation agency of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Campinas, Brazil. Founded in 2003, it was the country's first dedicated university innovation agency and manages the university's full portfolio of intellectual property, licensing and startup-incubation activities.

The agency oversees UNICAMP's patent pipeline — 1,293 active patents as of 2023 — and negotiates industry licensing deals; in 2023 it maintained 212 active technology-transfer agreements, generating R$1,720,616.56 (roughly US$345,000) in royalties and other economic gains that year. Patent filings have accelerated sharply: UNICAMP deposited 68 patent applications with Brazil's INPI in 2024, a 70% jump over the prior year, making it the top patent-filer among São Paulo state universities and 6th nationally, according to INPI's Top-50 ranking (reported independently by Sampi Campinas and Revista Pesquisa FAPESP).

Inova Unicamp also runs the Incamp business incubator: 63 companies have graduated since 2001, with a 60% survival rate (77% for deep-tech firms) against a roughly 25% national average for Brazilian startups. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) profiled Inova Unicamp as a case study in university technology transfer.

Caveat: most reported figures are self-reported by the agency, cross-confirmed only for patent counts via INPI's public rankings; no independent economic-impact evaluation of the licensing programme was found, and the R$1.72M in 2023 royalties is modest relative to the size of the patent portfolio, suggesting commercialization still lags behind filing activity.

Read the full analysis: https://www.inova.unicamp.br/