Options for promotion

There are several ways in which research findings and intellectual property can be promoted:

Sale

This is a form of assignment in which the purchaser definitively acquires the findings and/or intellectual property title to research.
 

Licensing

Here, a company or entity acquires the exclusive or non-exclusive right to use the findings and/or intellectual property title to research for a given geographical area, for specific applications, and for a defined period.

The creation of a spin-off

A spin-off is a company created by UCL laboratory researchers on the basis of their research findings and intellectual property.

Please note that research findings can also be promoted in other ways (referred to as “non-economic”):

• by publishing research findings in order to advance knowledge;
• by incorporating research findings into training in order to improve education;
• by making scientific presentations at conferences, and so on.