We are pleased to announce the acquisition of a patent title from the Industrial Property Organization regarding our electronic platform ebite.
The specific patent is titled “Presence/absence prediction system and method for the three genera of larvae (Culex, Aedes, Anopheles) in the breeding sites” with number 1010544, which was filed on 10/11/2022 and is valid until 2042. It is referred to the development of an automated presence/absence recording and prediction system for the three genera of mosquito larvae at breeding sites on registered digital operational maps in real time.
The online platform ebite is the main component of the present invention as it is the tool used to control the larvae and to plan the individual activities and includes eight functions, such as the timetable of the planned actions, the map with the breeding sites of the larvae, the statistics on the actions carried out in the field. During sampling, the technical staff registers inspection data such as entomological records, observation data, GPS positioning, photo taking, etc. on tablets 12. Finally, for the realization of the three distinct models for predicting the presence/absence for the three genera of larvae (Culex, Aedes, Anopheles), in addition to the recorded inspection data during the physical presence of the technical staff at the larval sampling stations, other data are used (topographical, meteorological, etc)
Generally, the registration of a patent grants exclusive rights to the invention for a limited period of time, usually 20 years. Other natural or legal persons may not produce, use, sell or import a product or method based on the patented invention. A patent protects technical inventions, new products or services that contain an inventive process and have an industrial application. There are two main reasons for establishing the patent right. One is to provide an economic incentive for individuals and businesses to engage in research and develop new products, in other words to promote innovation. The second reason is to publicize innovations, because if there was no patent right, inventors would try to keep their inventions secret so that competitors would not copy them. A condition for the award of the diploma is the disclosure and detailed description of the invention. Thus we have a trade off between inventor and society: the inventor reveals his innovation and the state grants him the right to exploit it exclusively for the next 20 years.
For us at Ecodevelopment, securing a patent means upgrading the services provided and the national and international impact the company has. For this reason, we are immediately proceeding with the filing of an International Patent Cooperation Treaty (controlled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). At the same time, the ultimate goal of this process is to extend the original ebite construction with improved versions of the existing models and to incorporate new tools such as ebite neXt, which aims to produce indicators and visualizations for better analysis and communication of generated data and products.Finally, after the award of the patent we can proceed to publish technical details for the three distinct forecasting models of of presence/absence for the three genera of larvae (Culex, Aedes, Anopheles) in specialized scientific journals of international prestige.
