DHAHRAN: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) jumped to 314th position in the number of patents filed by world companies and institutions at the US Patent Office, according to IFI CLAIMS Patent Services.
According to this specialized website providing global industries with annual reports on patents, KFUPM filed 115 patents in 2015 with an increase of 29 patents over 2014 when the university filed 86 patents. The university jumped from 416th position in 2014 to 314th in 2015, an increase of 102 positions.
KFUPM surpassed Middle East and African universities, and won third position in Asia after China's Tsinghua University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Four other Saudi entities were in the IFI’s Top 1000 list for 2015, with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in 549th position, up from 644th in 2014.
King Saud University was 824th, up from 855th in 2014.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. was 944th, down from 838th in 2014.
Khaled S. Al-Sultan, KFUPM rector, said that the university exceeded its strategic goals in the field of patents, pointing out that the university, which owned only five patents in 2005, came very close to the list of top 10 universities in the world in the field of patent filings.
"Building an integrated innovative system is the cornerstone of university success in the best investment of inventions' patents. KFUPM had paved its success by focusing on excellence in basic research. Then, the founding of Dhahran Technology Valley became the largest gathering for oil and gas research centers. The DTV system includes an innovation center, an entrepreneurship institute and a technology advancement and prototyping center," he added.
Al-Sultan said that KFUPM is not focusing on patent filings as much as the selection of innovative activities and making sure of their feasibility. KFUPM focuses on specific areas and develops its own method of invention marketing.
He said the university reaches the utmost in preparing its techniques by licensing a number of innovations and brings them to the global markets through alliances with international companies, and a number of local and international start-up companies which were founded based on the university patent.
He said that the university's success in patent filing and commercialization was a critical result of its strategy in the production, licensing and marketing of intellectual property in order to contribute in supporting the national economy through creating business entities based on the innovative ideas of KFUPM members.
The university was listed among the top producers of patents since 2011, and continued to rise until it reached the 314th position in 2015. 
