Final Report Summary - IPRAM (Intellectual property rights and assets management course) The main ambitions of IPRAM was to raise awareness among life scientists and members of technology transfer offices of the commercial potential of their research and the research projects performed within their research institutes, respectively. This is to stimulate technology transfer from academy to industry and to encourage bio-entrepreneurship in the academic community. To reach this goal, eight one-week lectures on intellectual property rights (IPR) and the commercialisation of IPR were given in eight different biotech clusters throughout Europe (Barcelona, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, Lyon, Munich, Prague, and Vienna). On average, 27 people participated at the IPRAM course week. The protection of research results in the fields of biotechnology and life sciences by IPR is a prerequisite for the successful commercial exploitation of research results and the start-up of sustainable companies, capable to compete in a global market. However, an unsatisfactory knowledge about how to protect research results for use by and for transfer to industry, as well as insufficient experience in the commercialisation of patented inventions hamper a rapid technology transfer and thereby the development of the European biotechnology market. For that reason, it is difficult for many European countries and especially for new Member States to enjoy the full benefits of their investments in life science research and thereby to leverage their wealth, their economic and social growth, as well as their quality of life. In order to develop a greater awareness among academic researchers, academic group leaders, and scientists from early stage biotechnology companies for the commercialisation of their R&D results, the IPRAM course imparted the basic knowledge about essential aspects of IPR in the field of life sciences and biotechnology to scientists across the Europe. The lectures were completed by various case studies from the life science sector that have been presented and discussed in detail. According to a detailed questionnaire that has been provided by the IPRAM consortium, filled out by the participants in all eight countries, and analysed by an independent third party, the IPRAM lecture week and its underlying curriculum must be taken as a great success. On average, 27 people (33 % female and 67 % male) participated to each IPRAM course week which perfectly fits to the targeted number of 'up to 30 participants' per city. A comparison of the individual topics of the curriculum resulted in a balanced ranking which shows that no topic appeared dispensable to the audience. The topic 'Biotech IP and how to make money out of it' received a ranking slightly above average, most likely because this topic is often neglected in such advanced training programs because of the interdisciplinary complexity of the theme. Retrospectively, there is no need to modify this curriculum in future training courses on this topic, neither from the point of view of the lecturers nor from the audience. To ensure the dissemination of the knowledge gained by the IPRAM training courses handouts describing the content of the course and a condensed version of the IPRAM lecture has been made available for every participant of the IPRAM course. A 120-page IPRAM booklet containing more than 400 slides has been provided at the IPRAM webpage 'www.mci.edu/ipram' to all those who participated at one of the IPRAM courses. In addition to these documents, the IPRAM consortium initiated a committed network of experts on the IPR in life sciences and biotechnology. For example, Dr Ludwig Weiss (SciXess GmbH) continues to give lectures on the valuation and commercial exploitation of intellectual property together with the European Patent Office (EPO). On the one side of the scale, these lectures are given to train experienced patent examiners from national patent offices in the valuation of patents and on the other end of the scale, university members (students and technology transfer professionals) are trained in the different ways of commercially exploiting university inventions through spin-offs and out-licensing. Related documents Final Report - IPRAM (Intellectual property rights and assets management course)
