Scientific Patents in Federal Universities: Institutional Challenges and the Application of Cost-Based Valuation at the Universidade de Brasília (UnB).
Scientific patents; Intangible assets; Cost method; Accounting measurement; Universidade de Brasília (UnB).
This research aims to analyze the institutional challenges related to the measurement, recognition, and accounting disclosure of scientific patents internally generated by Brazilian federal universities, focusing on a case study of the Universidade de Brasília (UnB). Although Federal Institutions of Higher Education play a central role in the National Innovation System, their intangible assets, especially patents, remain largely underreported in financial statements, in disagreement with the guidelines established by NBC TSP 08. The study adopts a mixed-methods and applied approach, with descriptive, explanatory, and propositional objectives, based on documentary analysis, data collection from the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), a case study of UnB, and Content Analysis techniques. In addition, a national comparative diagnosis of federal universities from 2019 to 2023 is conducted to situate the institutional reality of UnB in a broader context. As its methodological core, the research proposes the application of the cost method for the initial measurement of scientific patents, in accordance with NBC TSP 08, combined with the use of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale as a complementary tool to professional judgment. Based on empirical and normative findings, an institutional model and an accounting flow are developed to strengthen asset governance, transparency, and accountability in federal universities, as well as to provide replicable methodological guidelines for the management of intangible assets in the public sector.