Intellectual asset management support for public research organisations, academic institutions and their spin-offs (CSA) -

Proposals are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Provide support to public research organisations and their spin-offs in fostering a stronger culture of entrepreneurship, better managing their intellectual assets and facilitating their next step towards bringing their R&I results towards the market.
• Build capacity in public research organisations and academic institutions by translating the guiding principles for knowledge valorisation[1] on entrepreneurship into tangible guidance for early stage innovators.
• Building stronger capabilities for intellectual asset management in academic institutions and public research organisations by using the Code of Practice on the management of intellectual assets[2] and the Code of Practice on Standardisation[3] to support early stage innovators to succeed with open innovation also in international cooperations.

To increase Europe’s capacity to convert high level scientific success into social and economic benefits a broad definition of entrepreneurship is needed. Entrepreneurship is much more than “just” starting businesses: it is a mindset for creating sustainable change. Although there are initiatives addressing the entrepreneurial education and the paradigm shift, there are no actions that provide early stage support on managing the intellectual assets of PROs and helping them create and strengthen spin-offs.

The aim of the action is to ensure the highest level of support for public research organisations in Europe including universities and their entrepreneurial agendas in order to improve access to and use of the knowledge assets very often created by public research funding. Frequently, these knowledge assets are not properly valorised leading to hampered market uptake of R&I results and furthering the innovation gap. Encouraging entrepreneurship and providing the necessary intellectual asset management support, can help bridge the gap between the laboratory and the marketplace. This action will support the implementation of the Council Recommendation on the Guiding principles for Knowledge Valorisation in Europe and will demonstrate how the Code of Practice on the management of intellectual assets for knowledge valorisation in the European Research Area and the Code of practice for Standardisation can be used amongst other tools to support early stage academic entrepreneurs. The action is also linked with the Commission Communication on a European strategy for universities.

This activity will support academic institutions, public research organisations and their spin-offs in their intellectual asset management using also the Code of Practice on the management of intellectual assets and on standardisation activities using also the Code of Practice for standardisation in their entrepreneurial agendas. This will help early stage technologies to become more attractive to commercial partners and investors.

In addition, this activity will deliver modular educational packages that support entrepreneurial education, intellectual asset literacy and strengthening the link between research and standardisation. The educational packages should be targeted at all students and staff across European academic institutions, universities and public research organisations.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022H2415&qid=1670573108748

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023H0499&qid=1678171231088

[3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023H0498&qid=1678171117168

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