IP Navigator (Beta)
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Which university are you researching or studying at?
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Do the intellectual property rights (e.g. patents) belong entirely to the scientific institution, or are there contracts with companies which specify that these rights are transferred to industry or the client? (If there are no such contractual obligations, the scientific institution can freely dispose of the property rights.)
Question 1 can be clarified by asking your department or institute management for information or by contacting the relevant legal department/legal department in your administration. If there are contractual arrangements for the transfer of intellectual property rights (IPR) to third parties in the relevant projects, the patent management or patent manager at your scientific institution can also help you.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is there a team or department at the scientific institution that takes care of investments and manages the rights and obligations well as shareholders?
The patent management or patent manager at your scientific institution, or alternatively your respective head of department or institute, can answer the question for you. (Many universities have technology transfer offices or innovation departments that handle spin-offs and intellectual property. Their own investment management, which actively exercises shareholder rights, is more likely to exist at research-intensive universities or those with extensive start-up funding. Smaller or less business-oriented universities often do not have a special department for this and manage investments more through central administrative units or external partners (e.g. university or state investment companies).
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
There is no investment management system, but does the scientific institution (WE) have professional IP management that can primarily manage patents over a longer period of time?
The patent management or patent manager at your scientific institution, or alternatively your respective head of department or institute, can answer the question for you. (Compared to investment management, IP management is often available at many German universities)
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Are these property rights (in particular patents, utility models) which are presumed to have only a fairly limited scope of protection or that their granting is rather uncertain?
Searching for patents and evaluating the patent management of your research institution provides a first clue. “Completely true” would be the correct answer here, for example if there are many publications or several patents that already address important parts of their patent application, then it is more likely to be assumed that their patent will only have protective effect for a very narrow scope of application when granted.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is the IP needed for products or services in a small market/niche market with limited revenue potential?
The basis for this evaluation is an initial analysis of target customer groups and the business model (e.g. using the Business Model Canvas).
• Are products/services scalable for many customers? Then the statement is incorrect.
• Are there only a few customers in focus and sales depend heavily on the effort invested? Then the statement is absolutely correct.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
From the point of view of the founding team, should the liquidity outflow from the company be low at the beginning?
Spin-offs often don't have much money at the beginning, and seed investments are also usually manageable in terms of financing volume. It is possible to design the conditions for granting IP in such a way that no large sums have to be paid at the beginning — in return, the research institution will usually expect performance-based remuneration in later phases of the company.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is exploitation planned or planned by various companies/spin-offs or by the research institution?
Please ask your own research institution (patent management) about this: The request for this is usually not from the founding team, but from the research institution, for example because it has only limited exploitation rights (due to cooperation or licensing agreements) or because it is part of the research institution's strategy to only grant field-exclusive or non-exclusive licenses on the IP to companies.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is the research institution prepared to (partially) finance the costs of filing an intellectual property right (in particular patent) over a longer period of time?
This question must be answered by the research institution (or its patent management): If it primarily uses inventions and applies for a patent, then there are costs for the initial patent application plus PCT application, and even significant costs for national applications worldwide after 30 months at the latest. If the research institution wants these costs reimbursed in full as quickly as possible, then state “does not apply”, the research institution is prepared to pre-finance the costs for a certain period of time (thus taking risks, but then also participating in the success of the company), then state “fully applies.”
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Does the spin-off require rights to inventions/results that exist as mixed forms (software, know-how, patents) in different types of property rights?
The founding team should clarify which intellectual property rights the spin-off requires and how these should be protected and transferred.
• Are there different types of intellectual property rights (e.g. patents, trademarks, designs) without any of them clearly dominating? → “Fully applicable”
• Is a type of property right (e.g. a patent) clearly dominant? → “Does not apply”
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Does the spin-off with IP pursue a “high-risk — high-gain” approach for strongly scaling business models?
Assessment of the founding team based on the business plan: Does the product address a large market with strong scaling potential, but at the same time requires considerable effort for development and/or approval by the company? In most cases, the spin-off will seek venture capital financing. If that is the case, please state “Fully applicable.” [Examples: medical technology; high-risk deep tech innovations]
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is there a great deal of interest in mutual institutional ties both within the scientific institution and in the spin-off? Is the scientific institution possibly also prepared to invest in collaborations or spin-offs?
This question is aimed at whether the scientific institution may also consider an open investment as a shareholder and whether it is also prepared to make money in the parent investment (as part of a capital increase plus, if applicable, a premium in the capital reserve). The scientific institution as a shareholder can be an option for spin-offs, especially if long-term and close R&D cooperation is desirable and the scientific institution has its own venture fund.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Is the IP to be granted large, maintain-intensive patent/IP portfolios with potentially high impact (e.g. medicine)?
In the life sciences (biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, possibly also medical technology) and in the chemical sector in particular, several patent applications are being filed in parallel with research and development, from which (via international patent applications) entire patent families arise. The challenge here is that the time periods until market entry are long, yet it is necessary to manage many patent proceedings, including deadlines, responses, etc. including associated costs. If this is the case/foreseeable with your spin-off, then please state “Fully applicable”.
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Does the IP/patents to be transferred protect the essential key technology for the spin-off?
This is about how significantly and effectively (in the opinion of the founding team) the intellectual property rights to be transferred protect the spin-off's core innovation. Are property rights essential for protection against competition and do the rights promise effective protection? Then please state “fully applies.” If the IP only covers part of the innovation or is used for “IP cosmetics,” then it is more likely to state “does not apply.”
The intellectual property rights cannot be transferred or can only be transferred to a very limited extent. However, you can still fill out the IP Navigator if you are interested.
Disclaimer: The IP Navigator is a modified version of the Wahl-O-Meter IP model, which here was published by SPRIN-D, the Stifterverband and Frauenhofer ISI. This beta version of IP Wahl-O-Meter was developed by Christoph Heynen, Deputy Head of S-Outreach and Head of the Working Group for Start-Up Consulting and Entrepreneurship at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, as well as with input and feedback from the IP Transfer 3.0 pilot group and founding teams. The IPNavigator was developed to help researchers decide on IP transfer models and does not claim to be completely correct in all cases of IP transfer
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contact usThe IP Toolbox is intended to provide researchers with easy access to the topic of intellectual property and make the IP transfer process more transparent and easier to understand. Much content is based on information and tools from external sources, which are provided and linked accordingly. The IP Toolbox does not claim to be complete accuracy in all cases of IP transfer and does not provide any legal guarantee. Details should always be discussed with the relevant authorities at universities or with lawyers and experts specialized in the topic. If you encounter incorrect information or have suggestions for improving the IP Toolbox, please feel free to use the contact field below.