Jon Drewitt is a Technology Transfer Assistant in the Commercialisation Office which leads on all technology transfer, research translation, commercialisation, and wider intellectual property (IP) rights activity at the University of Kent. For World Intellectual Property Day 2022, we find out more about what his team does and why it’s so vital to innovation at Kent.
What does intellectual property have to do with higher education?
Great question! Intellectual Property (IP) can be broadly understood as the ownership of ideas. This means that the more ideas an individual comes up with directly translates to more intellectual property. A more formal definition is that IP refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. The work of academics and students within universities are uniquely focused on the research and development of good ideas, which makes the sector an untapped wealth of intellectual property.
How does your office engage with the wider university?
When academics conduct research they are creating intellectual property which holds implicit value. A core function of the Technology Transfer Office is to maximise and extract that value for the benefit of the university, the academic (the creators or inventors), and wider society. There is also a more complex aspect of who owns the IP, but that’s equally what we’re here to help with. In order to do this we engage with academics to discuss the nature of their research and advise on how best to protect the IP associated with it. While some departments may create more commercially oriented IP, every academic at Kent generates IP that is worth protecting and pursuing in some capacity – from copyright in the arts to patents in engineering.
Why should the wider university engage with your office?
Because our remit is to efficiently protect Kent IP, maximise its value and fairly allocate benefits to its creators. This protection and exploitation of IP is used to help achieve academics’ career goals, create businesses, and tackle issues within communities and generally provide impact and utility outside of the academic space. Our office has helped academics at Kent to start their own companies, be named as inventors on patents, make their research available on an open/free licensing basis, and make much larger impacts on their subject area than they otherwise would have by staying exclusively within the academic space.
Any final comments?
Today is World Intellectual Property Day 2022 with a focus this year on ‘IP and Youth innovating for a Better Future’, I think this is really pertinent to the work we do here in the higher education sector. Every academic and student should be reaching out to our office if they want to use what they’ve gained at Kent to continue innovating and building a better future. If anyone reading this wishes to reach out and discuss their IP and how best to utilise/protect it feel free to contact me through commercialisation@kent.ac.uk or drop by Rutherford Annex Room 102.