UCD License Platform

UCD licensing platform to make technology transfer easier

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Dr Kevin McCarthy, Aficionado Technologies with Brendan Cremen, UCD

13 November 2015

University College Dublin’s (UCD) technology transfer office at NovaUCD has launched a new platform to promote and license technologies developed at the University.

The platform provides three options to potential licensees to access UCD technologies, ‘buy it now’, ‘obtain a non-commercial licence’ and ‘make an enquiry’. The technologies included under the ‘buy it now’ option can be broadly classified as research tools, such as cell lines, vectors or certain software, with relatively low inherent value.

Until now members of UCD’s technology transfer team spent significant time negotiating bespoke licences for such technologies. In order to streamline this process UCD partnered with Aficionado Technologies, a UCD spin-out company, to develop and launch the UCD Online Licensing Platform to license such technologies on a non-exclusive basis, to multiple users, for a relatively small one-time payment.

The platform uses the e-commerce solution Stripe to accept, manage, and track online credit card payments thus eliminating the need for back office tasks such as manual invoicing or processing of payments. This considerably reduces the time required to complete licensing deals.

Potential licensees can also use the platform to seek non-commercial licences to certain UCD technologies (mainly academic users). In addition, enquires to the technology transfer team can be made through the platform, in relation to other UCD technologies, such as patented inventions, which require more bespoke licensing negotiations.

UCD has licensed the technology behind the UCD Online Licensing Platform to Aficionado enabling it market the platform to other technology transfer offices in Ireland and internationally.

Speaking at NovaUCD Dr Ciaran O’Beirne, manager, Technology Transfer, said: “The UCD Online Licensing Platform provides us with a vehicle to streamline and improve the process of licensing technologies developed at UCD helping to ensure a better return on the State’s investment in research at the University.”

“We were delighted to have worked with Aficionado, a UCD spin-out headquartered at NovaUCD, to develop the technology and to have licensed the technology to the company to enable it to market the platform in Ireland and around the world.”

The platform has already generated enquires from Ireland, UK, continental Europe, United States, South America, Asia and the Middle East and a number of commercial and non-commercial licences have already been executed through it.

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