Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance his Department provides to public sector research establishments on exploiting intellectual property rights; and what systems his Department has in place to monitor the exploitation of those rights.

Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs) are the responsibility of a number of Government Departments. No central guidance is issued by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) on exploiting intellectual property rights. The approach to doing so is determined by individual PRSEs in consultation with their sponsoring department where appropriate.

However, tools like the Lambert toolkit have been developed, hosted and promoted by the Intellectual Property Office. These can help PSREs conduct effective negotiations in collaborative research projects and includes a set of model IP licensing and ownership agreements.

BIS has conducted surveys of knowledge transfer activities of PSREs since 2002. The results of the most recent survey undertaken earlier this year will be published shortly. This will include data about numbers of patents applied for, numbers granted and income from the licensing of IP.