Intellectual Property

Issue Overview

Nonprofit funders focus on Intellectual Property (IP) has intensified over the past 10 years as they face increased pressure to show success and “return on their investment in research.” In addition, these funders would like to show their donors and boards how they are good stewards of their funds.

But the view from technology transfer experts is that there are very few significant royalty-generating inventions that come from early stage research. Perhaps there is too much focus on negotiating IP when resources could be better spent developing guiding principles or developing template agreements.

HRA’s Funder-Institution RelationS Task (FIRST) Group was formed in part because they realized how valuable it would be for funders to understand more about the range of practices for negotiating IP, why some funders choose no ownership, and the amount of time and effort funders spend negotiating IP and policies on Indirect Costs, and discuss ways to decrease resources that are expended on these
efforts.