Strategic patent landscape analysis of a nano-biomedical innovation into an existing extracorporeal blood circulation system

The present Master Thesis is inserted in the XtraUS European project, regarding the integration of a new technology into an existing extracorporeal blood circulation set-up. The technique foresees to inject in the blood a new nano construct developed in the ERC Starting Grant project TrojaNanoHorse-TNH, and then to treat it by an energetic irradiation in order to kill circulating tumo cells (CTCs) in the blood. The aim of this Master Thesis is to contribute effectively and innovatively to the development of the whole idea: in fact, it has as its main objective the analysis of the current patent landscape and the definition of the possible strategy for the filing of new patents. For this reason, the Thesis will begin with a general analysis of the scientific field of interest, in order to better understand the value added of the technology under analysis; this general study will be followed by a deeper research about the actual patent landscape. This study will regard, at first, the general aim of a patent landscape analysis, the main tools to be used and the expected results, and in the second part will be focused on the specific topic under discussion, intended in two different ways: the first one will regard one of the main company player the field and the patents related to it; the second one will regard the area of research without specifications about applicants. The aim of the use of two different approaches is to have a complete view of the current state of the art and to analyze the main trends and actors; in this way, the possibilities of filing new patents will be easily defined: starting from the filed patents, it is useful to understand if it is worth filing other ones or if there are already some patents that cover the issue in which the project in interested.