Instrumentos tecnológicos patentados en México para tratar aguas residuales

Abstract

The development and adaptation of technology is vital for wastewater treatment (WWT) to be efficient, easy to implement, and with low costs of construction and operation. Patents can be a useful indicator for measuring and analyzing these technological issues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the registration on granted of patents in the WWT sector has evolved. In particular, patented technology in Mexico by foreign and Mexican holders was analyzed. The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI, in spanish) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) databases were examined for a period of 18 years, taking into account that the enforcement of wastewater standards began since 1996. The results show that the volume of patented technology in Mexico for WWT by foreign and Mexican holders is scarce compared to the volume of patents for other countries in the world. Mexico has contributed with only 34 patents out of 5041 (0.67[%]) in the period 1996 to 2013 according to the WIPO dababase; seven patents belong to Mexican residents. Furthermore, it was determined that the technology in Mexican patents is a minor proportion of all the patents in WWT. Since 1996 to 2013, in the database of IMPI, there were registered 137 patents, of which 42 belong to Mexican companies, institutions, research centers and inventors (30.65[%]). This suggests that the endogenous nucleus of technology invention for the WWT sector in Mexico is marginal and there is no evidence of linkage with the global flow in the matter.