In a new article for Forbes, Olena Orliuk, Head of the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Office talks about technology transfer. Why Ukrainian developers should not sell inventions but rather “borrow” them.
Technology transfer is a kind of franchise in the world of intellectual property. It is a window of opportunity through which a notional inventor, the author of a product, can transfer the right to use his or her developments to a third party. And just like in a restaurant franchise, commercialization is an important component of the “deal”.
Technologies are shared not for a “thank you,” but for real money, which enriches not only the author but also significantly fills the budget of his country.
Let’s look at this in practice. Let’s imagine that a Ukrainian company has developed a completely new technology for prosthetic limbs that reduces the time for adaptation to the prosthesis and speeds up a person’s return to normal life. This is a technology that belongs to our developers and is registered in Ukraine. And it is quite logical that companies from other countries are becoming interested in it.
The first step that big international players will try to take is to buy this technology. It could be $10,000, $100,000, or even several hundred thousand (if Ukraine were perceived as a developed country in the eyes of international businesses, we could be talking about millions).
Why are they willing to offer such sums? Because this is a technology of the future that will potentially bring much more money in the future.
Can we agree? Of course we can. Unfortunately, this is often exactly what happens. Our authors simply sell their inventions (very often for unreasonably low prices) and start creating something new. And buyers put the Ukrainian development into a high-quality European or American wrapper and return the money spent in the following months.
A completely different level of market interest arises when we refuse to sell our technologies. Then foreign players offer us something more valuable – technology transfer.
In this case, the Ukrainian developer issues a license (the “franchise”) for a conditional technology for the development of a prosthesis to a conditional foreign company. The latter will bring the Ukrainian prosthesis to its market.
What are the benefits for our developers? They will increase their income, receive funds for further development, and provide access to the new prosthetic technology to even more people.
This is a very conditional example, but it is extremely illustrative. Do not sell and give away what you have, but share. Share wisely, having taken care of intellectual property protection, registration of intellectual property results, obtaining titles of protection, etc. in advance.
The full article is available on the Forbes Ukraine website.
