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This article is aimed at improving understanding of the possibilities and implications of using patents as a teaching instrument for universities in developing countries in order to enable undergraduate business students to discuss critical issues associated with the commercialization of technological innovations.

This study is based on an explorative case of an experiential teaching exercise involving undergraduate students addressing the development of business plans addressing the commercialization of patents. In this way, we proposed the POSTE model to provide a pathway to knowledge creation by integrating entrepreneurial competences of entrepreneurship competences with existing practices.

Given the complex nature of the patenting process, the experiential exercise proposed by this study contributes to enhance IP commercialization capabilities of undergraduate students by simulating decision-making regarding market size, user requirements, product pricing, competitors, substitute products, time-to-market, product production arrangements and strategic use of the terms of a patent.

One limitation of this research involves the impossibility of completely addressing the venture launch gap. Despite the realistic learning experience based on a real patent, as students do not own the intellectual property rights (IPRs) associated with the patents used in the course, it is not possible to implement the business models developed during the course.

Since patent documents are freely available and companies are increasingly dependent on intellectual property (IP) assets to remain competitive, our study provides evidence that patents can provide a rich source of information that can be used to simulate venture creations by taking into consideration economical, strategical, and legal skills needed to bridge the technology commercialization gap.

Given the lack of courses addressing intellectual property in the wide majority of Brazilian undergraduate courses, the teaching experience described in this study contributes to raise the sense of urgency for the commercialization of patents among college students, as a means of turning technology into business.

Despite of the growing correlation between IP and competitiveness, teaching methods relying on IP data, such as patents, industrial designs and trademarks, in research institutions located in developing countries have received limited treatment in the extant literature.

By examining the intellectual property (IP) portfolio of the largest Brazilian footwear firms, the purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how manufacturing firms in the footwear industry in a developing country are using the IP system.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are widely acknowledged to be of central importance to manufacturing processes and systems. As such, manufacturing firms located in developing countries also need to use the international IP system in order to increase their competitiveness. This study examines how the Brazilian footwear industry is protecting their IPRs by assessing IP filings in recent years from this particular industry.

Here, the authors provide empirical evidence indicating a recent growth in IP filings that was accomplished by manufacturing firms in the Brazilian footwear industry. Additionally, the authors also found that the use of the IP system is highly concentrated in the two Brazilian footwear industrial clusters, which are located in the States of São Paulo (SP) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

The analysis can be considered a solid reference for future studies that assess the use of IP of manufacturing organizations as a developing country context. The authors believe it is worthwhile to conduct qualitative interviews with the senior managers of the IP department of Brazilian footwear manufacturers located in the SP and RS industrial clusters, as a means of deepening our understanding on their motivations to file IP applications.

The results presented in this study demonstrate a recent growth in IP filings accomplished by firms in the Brazilian footwear industry, which is an industry subject to serious threats posed by counterfeit and pirated goods. More specifically, the authors provide empirical evidence that the use of the IP system is more intense in two industrial clusters, which are located in the states of SP and RS. In this way, the authors believe that similar patterns will appear in other technical areas, in which industrial clusters can be identified.

According to OECD/EUIPO (2016), the footwear industry has been leading the rank of the most severely affected by counterfeit and pirated goods worldwide. Highly copied goods also include clothing, electrical machinery and equipment, articles of leather, and watches. However, footwear products are more frequently illegally copied as compared to any other type of product.

Given the increased importance of IP assets in the current knowledge-based society, firms located in developing countries ought to use IP more intensively. In fact, even with growing correlation between IP and competitiveness, IP data from firms in developing countries have received limited treatment in the extant literature. In summary, the evidence base is not strong and it urgently needs strengthening. As such, to the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first contribution addressing the use of IP by footwear manufacturing firms in a developing country.