Aussie universities launch seven IP principles for tech transfer

A coalition of Australian universities has drawn up seven principles for managing intellectual property, in the first effort of its kind in the country.

It comes as the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) tries to improve collaboration between academia and industry.

Under the first principle, staff and students are encouraged to undertake research that is “relevant to challenges faced by society and in partnership with industry, government and community groups”.

The five institutions are Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), RMIT University, University of South Australia and Curtin University. The principles were officially launched at the UTS on Thursday, April 7.

Staff and students are also encouraged to own and spearhead the commercialisation of IP generated from industry-funded research.

The ATN also supports access to IP on fair and equitable terms, and in a timely manner, while “our interactions with industry will be governed by a transparent, flexible and user-friendly system”.

Principle five states that each university will make public the ATN’s IP policies and standard commercial agreement templates.

Under the penultimate principle, the ATN promotes an entrepreneurial culture for staff and students, and finally the coalition states that all partnerships and resultant commercial agreements will be developed and negotiated promptly.

ATN chair David Lloyd said that for any university serious about industry engagement, “having clear and transparent principles around intellectual property is a must”.

He added: “To have five of the world's leading young universities on the same page and with the same shared goals and objectives in this domain is a huge step—a first for Australia and a real signal of how the ATN is ready to partner with industry and end users in research.”