ATSE welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE)’s consultation on the Higher Education Research Commercialisation (HERC) Intellectual Property (IP) Framework templates. ATSE has previously contributed feedback to DESE’s 2021 consultation on the University Research Commercialisation Scheme and on the design of an IP Framework.
As part of this submission ATSE is making four key recommendations:
- Recommendation 1: Provide templates as an optional resource, rather than a requirement for projects funded by the Trailblazer Universities Program or Australia’s Economic Accelerator Program.
- Recommendation 2: University-industry IP agreements should be recorded in a publicly available registry.
- Recommendation 3: The Framework Practical Guidance should outline best practices concerning IP drawn from Traditional Knowledge, including communities’ ownership of relevant IP.
- Recommendation 4: Provide supplementary optional resources to assist collaborators in building partnerships and understanding IP.
A coherent national scheme to enhance research collaboration, translation and commercialisation
The HERC IP Framework is part of a broader effort to encourage innovation and research partnerships in Australia. ATSE’s view is that there should be a coherent national scheme to support research collaboration, translation and commercialisation through university, industry and government partnerships. Adequate funding for research commercialisation is a key enabler of this, and ATSE has welcomed the recent announcement of funding for university research commercialisation. With a renewed Government agenda to increase university-industry research partnerships, it is crucial that policy settings, guidelines and resources are set up to support this effort.