Defining "Background" IPR as a basis for better exploitation of project results

by michael rogers

By their nature, EU research collaboration projects, such as Horizon 2020, require sharing of information between the project participants , seeing that the key principle behind these projects is developing new knowledge by using the existing knowledge of each partner. For this reason, intellectual property (IP) plays a crucial role when managing Horizon 2020 projects.

Defining the existing knowledge, i.e. the “background information”, of the partners has a direct effect on the successful exploitation of the results and is one of the first IP management-related steps that should be taken in any Horizon 2020 project.

An agreed description of the background that will be used (and/or the background which will not be used) within the project life cycle will guide the participants in avoiding possible disputes on ownership issues and access rights to background and results.

This IPR Helpdesk Fact Sheet aims at providing information on the management of background information with an accent on how to define background within Horizon 2020 projects through different examples. The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Annotated Model Grant Agreement (AGA) is taken as a reference along with the DESCA 2020 Model Consortium Agreement, the most commonly used consortium agreement model.

To find the document go to https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/sites/default/files/newsdocuments/Fact-Sheet-Background-in-H2020.pdf 

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