Premio IMPI 2025: Transforming Ideas into Commercial Products with Technical and Financial Support
During the launch of the IMPI Award for Mexican Innovation 2025, the General Director of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), Santiago Nieto Castillo, announced that they are already working on joint efforts to boost greater participation from federal entities in patent registration.
Leading States in Patent Registrations
Jalisco, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, and Nuevo León led patent registrations per 100,000 PEA (Economically Active Population) residents according to the 2025 State Competitiveness Index (ICE) by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO). In contrast, Nayarit, Tlaxcala, Guerrero, Durango, and Chiapas had fewer than one patent registration per 100,000 PEA residents in 2024.
IMCO states that patent registration is related to the ability to compete successfully in the economy, especially in high-value sectors that are knowledge-intensive and technology-driven. It is essential to generate and apply new knowledge in these areas.
Fostering a Culture of Industrial Property
Nieto Castillo mentioned, “We are working with state governments like Yucatán and Tlaxcala to foster a culture of industrial property.” He acknowledged the current significant disparity between federal entities.
“I met with Yucatán’s governor (Joaquín Díaz Mena) and the state’s Secretary of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation to promote patent generation in the Yucatan Peninsula, which includes Campeche and Quintana Roo,” Nieto Castillo explained.
Technological Self-Sufficiency
The Mexican Innovation Award 2025 is a strategy to reduce the country’s technological dependence, aligning with the federal government’s Mexico Plan by encouraging the development of national solutions addressing the country’s technological challenges.
With categories focused on strategic sectors like water, health, clean energy, and electromobility, the competition promotes the creation of Mexican intellectual property. “The pandemic taught us the vulnerability of relying on foreign technologies in critical areas,” explained Health Secretary David Kershenobich. “Today, we support inventions like Jalisco’s Covid-19 diagnostic kits, which demonstrated our ability to respond with homegrown solutions.”
The focus on projects with industrial applications aims to transform patents into commercial products. “We don’t want ideas that remain on paper,” the goal is to manufacture technologies in Mexico that can give rise to profitable businesses with export capabilities in the future, stated Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy, referring to the support winners will receive to bring their inventions to market.
Current State of Patent Registration
In 2024, there were 700 Mexican patents registered against 10,800 foreign ones. This means only 6% of the granted patents are of national origin, reflecting a strong technological dependence that the government aims to reverse.
Event Participants
The event attracted representatives of new technologies from institutions such as the Center for Advanced Research and Studies at the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), the Monterrey Institute of Technology, and the Innovation, Science, and Entrepreneurship Institute for Competitiveness in Guanajuato, which has three distinct companies.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is the IMPI Award for Mexican Innovation 2025? It is a competition organized by the Secretariat of Economy and IMPI to encourage the development of national technological solutions addressing Mexico’s challenges.
- Why is there a need to bridge the patent registration gap between states? The current disparity reflects strong technological dependence, with only 6% of granted patents being of national origin. The goal is to foster a culture of industrial property and technological self-sufficiency.
- Which sectors are the competition’s categories focused on? The competition has categories centered around strategic sectors like water, health, clean energy, and electromobility.
- What support do winners receive to bring their inventions to market? Winners will receive comprehensive support from the Secretariat of Economy and IMPI to transform their patents into commercial products.
