The Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council Recommendation on the guiding principles for knowledge valorisation. The aim is to increase the social and economic value of knowledge by transforming research results and innovation data (R&I) into sustainable products and solutions. The aim is also to align policy principles and measures for national, regional and local policy makers. The Council Recommendation would replace the 2008 Commission Recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and the Code of Practice for universities and other public research organisations.

The Commission says that boosting knowledge valorisation is essential to delivering solutions to global challenges and opportunities. Leveraging the full value of the intellectual assets generated by R&I activities requires organisations to manage all their intellectual assets, i.e., both those that can be protected by law (e.g., patents, copyright, trade marks etc.) and those that can be used in valorisation (e.g., data, know-how, prototypes, processes, practices, technologies, inventions, software etc.). The proposed guiding principles also recommend the development of management strategies and the promotion of skills to fully leverage intellectual assets.

The guiding principles will be supported by two codes of practice on: (i) the smart use of intellectual property; and, for researchers, (ii) standardisation.

The Council Recommendation is forecast to be published later in 2022. To read the Commission’s news release in full and for a link to the proposal, click here.