The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has announced it will participate in a plan for sharing some of its intellectual property for research royalty-free, making it the first United Kingdom government agency to do so.
According to a press release, the lab has signed up to the Easy Access IP scheme, following groups such as European nuclear lab CERN and others (IPW, Education/R&D/Innovation, 4 June 2012).
The Defence research agency is initially making six patent families available under the scheme. They are:
- A Protective Garment Comprising an Antenna
- A Helmet Comprising Air Vents
- A Rucksack for Connecting to Electrical Devices
- Blunt impact head injury model
- Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase attenuated Francisella
- Animal training system and method
The Easy Access IP programme, which originated from Glasgow University working with King’s College London and the University of Bristol, aims to make it easier to commercialise technology that may be otherwise more difficult to transfer. This might be because it is very early stage, or presents some uncertainties for a company to risk investment, the release said.
Easy Access IP addresses this by “offering technologies free of upfront fees or royalties, using quick and simple agreements, to make it easy for companies to access the IP and put it to use,” it said.
Dstl’s Head of IP, Graham Farnsworth, said in the release that by offering free access to some of the agency IP having a “lower technology readiness level,” its partners can evaluate and put it to use quickly.
“We hope that this scheme will allow us to develop new relationships with industry and academia, and by releasing appropriate IP in this manner we hope our innovative ideas can be developed, benefitting the economy and society as a whole,” he said.
The licence is for non-exclusive, royalty-free use of the IP under various conditions. The licensee will pay for patent costs, and, in exceptional circumstances such as if a resulting invention is “providing significant financial returns,” it might be possible for Dstl to change the licence to one involving some benefits to UK taxpayers on fair and reasonable terms.
The release notes that Dstl’s technology transfer company, Ploughshare Innovations Limited, “will continue to commercialise technologies through spin-outs and licensing, focussing on those of a higher complexity in nature requiring multi-party arrangements or financial investment, as well as those which are strategic for Dstl and the Ministry of Defence.”