Pathway Map
LICENSEE
Preparation overview.
Companies with little or no experience working with universities may not fully understand the unique context and constraints of licensing university-owned intellectual property (IP).
Some key points to be aware of include:
• university research that leads to licensable IP is often conducted in collaboration with other institutions or organisations, which may introduce shared rights or obligations
• university research groups typically adopt an open and collaborative approach to IP management, especially during the early stages of development, they are often actively seeking potential partners or licensees
• while universities are open to broad discussions with interested parties, they will act professionally and with appropriate legal safeguards, such as confidentiality agreements, once discussions become more serious and specific rights or obligations are proposed.
Identify university intellectual property licensing opportunities
Often the most appropriate company to licence a technology to, will be an industrial collaborator already working with the same department or research group.
These interactions are often initiated by the licensee being introduced to the academic team through a number of mechanisms. These can include the academic’s or TTO’s network, conference meetings/presentations, partnering events and media/marketing communications. They can also be initiated by direct contact of the potential company with the TTO or an academic expressing a need with which the university can potentially assist.
These relationships can take time to form and may start with grant funded collaborative research or consultancy, which evolves into a license deal.