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̽»¨Ö±²¥two-year research project, called Technology Acquisition and Protection: ̽»¨Ö±²¥Links to Exploitation, is being carried out by the IfM's Centre for Technology Management (CTM).

Technology acquisition is the process by which a company acquires the rights to use and exploit a technology to improve products or services.

It has become a major issue to industry through the growth of Open Innovation projects in which firms develop new products and services based on intellectual property.

Intellectual property, relating to technology, software and design, can be worth millions of pounds to the company which developed it through licenses, royalty payments and patents.

If Open Innovation means that firms are sharing knowledge and technologies with a wider base of potential supply partners, there is a greater need to protect this intellectual property.

̽»¨Ö±²¥project aims to develop guidelines for technology acquisition and protection and will focus on early stage technologies where the need to protect intellectual property while identifying routes to commercial exploitation is paramount.

̽»¨Ö±²¥research is seeking to answer the following questions:

• What is the range of acquisition possibilities for firms wishing to access technological capability?

• What factors should be taken into account when deciding whether and how to acquire an early stage technology?

• What methods are there to protect the IP related to technology acquisition?

• How do decisions on IP protection influence exploitation routes (especially in the case of IP emerging from the science base)?

• How might these factors be combined in a decision support process for technology acquisition?

CTM will be staging a series of industrial workshops as part of the project, with the first expected in late October. ̽»¨Ö±²¥researchers are also seeking industrial partners to take part in the research.

To find out more please contact Simon Ford, sjf39@cam.ac.uk.