Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer
Contacts:
Vanessa Scott, Director of Corporate Affiliates, Business Development, Industry Outreach, and Innovation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Directors Office
Victoria Cajipe, Associate Director, Physical Science Licensing, UC San Diego, Office of Innovation and Commercialization
- Scripps Corporate Alliance
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Scripps Corporate Alliance is a program launched in 2017 to facilitate relationships with companies that align with Scripps research and educational programs. Corporate members receive assistance in building relationships with faculty and research staff that may lead to research collaborations, sponsored research, and technology licensing. Corporate members receive assistance in recruiting students and postdoctoral fellows for internship and full-time positions and administrative support in facilitating their relationships at Scripps.
Faculty, staff, and students interested in connecting with corporate members, receiving administrative support in managing their existing relationships with companies, or discussing opportunities to engage new companies in their research can contact Vanessa Scott. To learn more about the programs and current members, visit Scripps Corporate Alliance.
- Intellectual Property, Commercialization, and Technology Transfer
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The UC San Diego Office of Innovation and Commercialization (OIC) is part of the Office of Research Affairs. OIC has established a campus-wide innovation platform to build a systemic and sustainable innovation culture, to create a vibrant regional ecosystem, and to accelerate commercialization of campus inventions.
Disclosing a technology or concept to the OIC is the first step in accessing the legal, entrepreneurial, and business resources available at the institution to protect, grow, share, license, or spin out your technology. To maximize the potential for your intellectual property (for example software, small molecules, hardware, methods, works of art) to be protected, it is essential to disclose it as soon as possible (well before public presentation or publication). Public presentation via the web or a conference poster or oral presentation of your intellectual property may influence the ability to protect it through a patent in the US and abroad. To learn more about disclosure or to submit a disclosure visit Invention Disclosure System.
Inventions generated at UC San Diego during the course of research may be owned in part or fully by the University of California. There may be opportunities to license the invention to an outside entity for use or sale, or the inventor may be interested in creating a new startup business around his or her invention. Disclosing the invention to the OIC is essential for evaluating appropriate options for intellectual property protection and commercialization. Licensing staff at the OIC work with scientists and students to evaluate intellectual property, protection strategy, and commercialization options. If a decision is made to protect the intellectual property (for example submit a patent application), the OIC assumes associated legal costs. If a scientist or student employed by UC San Diego develops a business or intellectual property external to his or her role at UC San Diego a waiver may be granted by the OIC stating the University has no rights or ownership of this intellectual property. Disclosing this external intellectual property is the first step in generating this waiver. To learn more about the pathway for protecting intellectual property, visit Patent Your Research.
The Regents of the University of California have produced a course Intellectual Property Essentials for Academic Researchers that introduces the four main categories of intellectual property. The content is for training purposes and should not be considered legal advice but may assist you in identifying intellectual property and appropriate protection strategy. There are a myriad of resources at UC San Diego to educate and support students, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty on intellectual property and commercialization. With questions on intellectual property protection and strategy, please contact Vanessa Scott or Victoria Cajipe.
When working with industry sponsors of research, collaborators, or licensors you may consider or be asked to put in place an agreement to protect your and/or the company’s confidential information. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or Confidentiality Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) are agreements that set out obligations for conversations that contain confidential and/or proprietary information from one or both parties. The terms control the disclosure, receipt, and use of the confidential or proprietary information. Commonly, this type of agreement is needed when a sponsor or collaborator and a principal investigator are contemplating a research collaboration, and first need to exchange confidential information to evaluate the collaboration’s potential. The primary focus of a NDA/CDA is to ensure that the rights of each party are protected with respect to its ownership of its confidential information and restrictions on the other party’s use or dissemination of tha information. Should a formal research relationship arise from these initial discussions, confidentiality terms in a sponsored research agreement or unfunded collaboration agreement would supplement or take the place of the NDA/CDA. When considering the exchange of confidential or proprietary information, please contact your business office and SIO C&G (Travis Dadigian). Please note that NDAs/CDAs are outside the fundamental research exception. All parties involved (institutions and individuals) must undergo restricted party screening, and any controlled items or materials may only be exchanged under a control plan developed in advance by UCSD Export Control.
- Additional Information