Conflict of Interest and Equilibrium Mechanism in Patent Transformation of National Key Laboratories

Abstract

Patent conversion in national key laboratories is a crucial link in realizing the value of scientific and technological achievements, but it faces the challenge of multiple conflicts of interest. This paper focuses on four types of entities: laboratories, research teams, enterprises and the government, and analyzes their differentiated demands: laboratories pursue academic reputation and resource accumulation, research teams focus on the benefits of achievements and autonomy, enterprises emphasize the commercial value of technology, and the government emphasizes macro-strategic coordination. The study found that conflicts of interest stem from imbalance in revenue distribution, misalignment of risk assumption, ambiguity in ownership definition and disorder in quality control. Typical cases reveal real predicaments such as patent ownership disputes, disconnection between supply and demand of technology and the proliferation of "bubble patents". In response to this, the paper proposes a "dynamic equilibrium mechanism", which promotes the sharing of benefits and risks through legislation to clarify the legal proportion of benefits for research teams, the establishment of a quality-oriented patent evaluation system, and the introduction of market-oriented value assessment standards, thereby stimulating collaborative innovation vitality. In terms of institutional guarantees, it is suggested to strengthen legal constraints and classified governance, improve the quality traceability and accountability mechanism, and build a virtuous ecosystem of "innovation-transformation-feedback" to provide theoretical and practical support for resolving conflicts of interest and optimizing the scientific and technological innovation system.