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Great success for Pat Frain, director of NovaUCD and chairman of ProTonEurope: UCD spin-out acquired by Amdocs for $60 million
University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, NovaUCD is happy to announce that Amdocs, the US provider of customer experience systems, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ChangingWorlds Ltd, a spin-out company from University College Dublin’s School of Computer Science and Informatics, in a $60 million deal that is UCD’s largest exit to date – more than doubling the $26 million that US chipmaker Agere Systems paid for semiconductor spin-out Massana in 2003.
Discount of 30% on the ACES conference and awards.
Science Business offers a discount (30%) off the conference price for ProTon Members (making it 175€ for the gala dinner + conference).
Many TTO people will be there, from Imperial, Polimi, UCL, ETHZ, Delft, etc. Corporations represented by senior execs include Microsoft, P&G, J&J, BP, Amgen, Nokia, CEFIC, etc. From the Commission, the DG for Education will be there and presenting awards.
If interested, sent an e-mail to Richard Hudson to mention your ProTon Membership. (contact information can be found on the link below)
Guidance on State Aid framework
Auril and UK Government develop a guidance note for universities and Research Organisations on working with the EC State Aid Framework for Research and Development and Innovation.
A joint project by AURIL and the UK Government Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has produced some useful and practical guidance on State Aid rules.
Addressing topics such as:
- OPERATING OUTSIDE THE STATE AID RULES
- Not all State Aid is Illegal
- State Aid Policy and R&D&I
- Defining Economic Activities
- How to avoid giving State Aid to Others
- Joint research projects
- ALLOWABLE AID
- Eligible costs in Aid for R&D&I Projects
- Aid for Technical Feasibility Studies
- Aid for Industrial Property Rights costs for SMEs
- Aid for Young innovative Enterprises
- Aid for the Loan of Highly Qualified Personnel
- Aid for Innovation Clusters
The guidance is useful for all KTOs.
UK agrees with EPO on software-related patents
A decision in the UK Courts has clarified the scope of what type of software-related inventions are patentable in the UK.
According to the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), the decision means that applications to patent software should now be examined by the UK-IPO and the courts in the UK on the same basis as they are at the European Patent Office (EPO).
The UK-IPO before this decision tended to focus directly on the specific computer program exclusion, while the EPO applies a broader positive test based on the whether or not the invention is technical . The decision is particularly beneficial for SMEs, who can now pursue computer-related inventions at the UK-IPO rather than at the more expensive EPO.
The UK-IPO's decision in the case of Symbian illustrated the divide which existed between the UK-IPO and the EPO about how the patentability of inventions involving computer programs should be assessed. This was because although the UK-IPO had refused Symbian’s patent application, the EPO had granted Symbian a patent for the same invention – despite the UK-IPO and EPO operating according to a shared legal framework.
RedOTRI’s Class of 2008 graduated in Girona
The University of Girona hosted between the 6th and the 10th of October the sixth edition of the Training Course for KT Technicians, the most emblematic of all RedOTRI’s courses.
This course, belonging to RedOTRI’s 2008 Educational Program, is organized yearly to lay the foundations for the professional development of the technical staff that has recently joined the KTOs. During 5 days the students receive a basic training in the diverse areas related the transfer profession: IPR, Spanish and European R&D programs, promotion and marketing, R&D contracts, and technology-based business creation. The lectures were supplemented with practical group sessions that provided students hand-on experiences of actual work that takes place in KTOs.
The course was inaugurated by Helena Montiel, director of the KTO of the University of Girona, Valentí Puig on behalf of the RedOTRI’s Permanent Committee, and Vincente Díez, OTRI-School Coordinator. The three speakers welcomed the attendees and encouraged them to face the professional challenge of increasing the value of academic research and knowledge for the benefit of the entire society.
The course had 34 students enrolled from 25 university KTOs, plus two students from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands. It was also attended by a representative of RedVitec, the Argentine network of KT offices, with which RedOTRI is collaborating in a joint project funded by the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation which aims to identify and share good KT practices.
The course, as in past editions, helped to develop and strengthen ties and relationships, both professional and personal, among assistants, teachers and organization. This invaluable effect constitutes its main asset because it helps to build a stronger KT network in Spain.
Training in Critical IPR Areas
18 technicians from KTOs of universities and PROs participated in the first edition of RedOTRI’s IPR Management Course.
King Juan Carlos University hosted in Madrid between the 24th and the 26th of September this training action aimed to provide advanced knowledge on relevant aspects of the management of intellectual property. The lectures, part of the 5th RedOTRI’s Educational Program, were given by the lawyers Gustavo Fuster (Pons Patentes y Marcas), Juan Arias (ABG Patentes) and Miguel Vidal-Quadras (Amat i Vidal-Quadaras Advocats), as well as Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez, examiner of the Spanish Office of Patents and Trademarks.
Throughout the 3 days of the course diverse topics of great interest to KTOs were analysed: strategies for patent applying, claim writing, criteria for assessing novelty and inventiveness, and the “experimental use” exception. The course concluded with a practical session led by Juan Martínez Armesto (OTT-Fundación Progreso y Salud), in which students applied the techniques in a real case study.
World-class Danish universities
source/media: University of Copenhagen & University of Aarhus
The Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings identified two Danish universities to be among the world's top 100 universities in 2008.
University of Copenhagen has been on the list of worldclass universities for some years. This year the university is ranked 48 on the top-100 list. For the first time University of Aarhus is also on the top-100 list of best universities in the world and ranked as number 81.
Evaluation of the Danish Contributions to Space Research
source/media: The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation
Denmark has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 1975. Danish universities and Danish industries participate in all major areas of space research and development of space technologies.
In order to focus national priorities in the space area the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation initiated an evaluation of the Danish Space effort. A consultancy company looked into the results and spin-off of the Danish industrial and technological participation in ESA programmes. An international peer review panel was asked to evaluate the quality of the Danish space research.
New promising obesity drug may have huge potential
source/media: University of Copenhagen
A new obesity drug, Tesofensine, which may be launched on the world market in a few years, can produce weight loss twice that of currently approved obesity drugs. The Danish company Neurosearch and a number of researchers at the Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen are behind the promising findings.
Tesofensine can produce weight loss twice that of currently approved obesity drugs, and should be studied in phase III trials. These are the conclusions of an article published early online and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Professor Arne Astrup, Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues.
Prestigious EU distinction to researcher from Aarhus University
source/media: Aarhus University
One of The European Research Council's (ERC) extremely prestigious Advanced Grants for research in the Life Sciences domain (health sciences, food research, biology and molecular biology) went to Denmark.
Professor Søren Kragh Moestrup, DrMedSc, Aarhus University, was awarded the research grant for his TROJA project, which stands for T argeting Receptors Of Jointly Assembled Ligand-Drug Constructs. The TROJA technique can utilise some of the body’s own proteins as "Trojan horses" to enable medications to enter diseased cells.The TROJA technique can also be used to render certain types of parasites harmless when they have attacked the body.
Risø DTU a founding partner of the new European Energy Research Alliance
source/media: Risø DTU
At the first European conference on Low Carbon Technologies held in Paris on the 27th of October 2008, the founding partners of the EERA signed a Declaration of Intent.
“EERA’s planned focus areas match the research conducted at Risø extremely well. Risø is leading the way within wind energy and is also an important player within virtually all the other sustainable energy technologies which will be covered by the EERA alliance.”, says Henrik Bindslev, Director of Risø DTU.
Pat Frain, Chair of ProTon, invited by DG Joint Research to provide IPR guidelines for the European Institut of Technology.
The Head of Unit, Intellectual Property & Scientific Co-operation
DG Joint Research Centre invitated Pat Frain to participate in a stakeholders meeting in his capacity as Chair of ProTon, in January 2009.
The stakeholders meeting will provide an input to development of IPR guidelines for the Governing Board of the European Institute of Technology. The JRC IP Unit has been asked by the EIT Task Force of DG Education to prepare the Guidelines.
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Representatives of companies, university researchers, the Public Administration and KTOs professionals deliberated on the basic principles that must govern the collaboration in R&D and KT activities between enterprises and the University.
