Thermodynamic control of patent tokenization for sustainable development

Abstract

Background Patent tokenization converts intellectual property (IP) into tradable digital units. Pilots on IPwe, IBM, and Ocean Protocol have processed > 1,500 assets ( ≈ $62 million since 2019). In practice, schedules are often fixed and pricing simplified; risk preferences are typically ignored—costing value in volatile settings relevant to the SDGs. Methods We cast patent tokenization as risk-sensitive control and linked economic risk aversion to inverse temperature. With the exponential transform Φ = e − γ V , the risk-sensitive Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) linearizes for fixed controls; the optimal policy is a pointwise threshold (bang–bang or smoothly regularized). This preserves tractability and enables millisecond solves. Results From 45 tokenization trajectories (12 held out), we estimate γ = 2.1 ± 0.38 (95% CI), while a composite objective F ( γ ) calibrated to equity-like orders peaks at γ * ≈ 3.02 ([2.9,3.2]). Monte Carlo ( n = 10,000 ) shows a ≈ 76% downside reduction and 92% success rate under ledger-based schedules. Solver latency drops by ∼ 850 × (40 s → 47 ms). Conclusion The thermodynamic lens explains why practice ( γ ≈ 2.1 ) deviates from the theoretical benchmark ( γ * ≈ 3.0 ) in our calibration: actors appear to trade maximal efficiency for robustness. The framework stabilizes revenues, drives fees to negligible levels, and supports SDG-aligned innovation finance by lowering the cost of access and adaptation under uncertainty.