Have you ever heard about technology transfer? Probably yes, however in case you are not familiar with it this term may seem to be too broad but it is not and may provide great opportunities to researchers, universities and companies though the exploitation of research results .
Actually, any activity related to the economic exploitation of research results (IP: patents, designs, copyright) and know how is named technology transfer and this activity can be conducted through:
- Intellectual Property Rights Protection
- Contracts
- R&D Collaborations
- Supporting Organizations
- Joint Technology Transfer partnership
- Spin offs
For example a research center wants to produce a new product/an invention with an R&D department of a big tech company which invention could be also registered as a patent or wants to protect an existing invention through a patent or set up a spin off company that has as core business the economic exploitation of this patent- these are some examples of technology transfer activities.
All the above activities are abide by complex legislation regarding IP, commercial, corporate sector and raise legal issues that needs to be addressed and negotiated to all parties involved.
If you are part of any aspect of the technology transfer ecosystem and you are interested to proceed with any of the above activities it is necessary to know the legal framework and also the key legal issues, that may also derive from business needs, that you need to take under consideration before you e.g file an application for an IPR or you set up a spin off or you sign an R&D collaboration.
