In a move to reduce some of the barriers to IP transfer between academic research and entrepreneurship, the University of Glasgow has launched a new website “Easy Access IP” that will make some its intellectual property available to the public for free of charge, without cumbersome licensing rules and restrictions.
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As Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow notes, the university’s announcement about the release of its IP is somewhat confusing as it’s not all the university research, papers, or patents. But it’s still a noteworthy project. As the university press release notes, “while a small proportion of high value University of Glasgow IP will still be made available to industry through traditional licensing and spin-out companies alone, offering the bulk of IP to a larger audience for free adds value to the UK economy.”
Available IP includes Terrier, a terabyte-scale information retrieval system and the Schyns Illusion, a technique for creating hybrid images.
According to University of Glasgow Principal Anton Muscatelli, “One of the core missions of the University is the creation, advancement and sharing of knowledge and we aim to transfer as much IP into commercial use as we can, to the benefit of our partners, the community and the economy.” Muscatelli says that this project aims to demonstrate the importance of the university’s research as well as help UK companies readily take advantage of it to boost their competitive edge.
The project is expected to be utilized by small and medium-sized businesses, with the hopes that it will lead to more collaboration between the university and businesses and will foster more long-term partnerships.
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