New public-funded research rules to have far-reaching implications
Posted by Celia Walter | 4 Sep, 2010The introduction of the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act will have implications for South African companies that contribute to research projects that benefit from public funding and could compel such companies to reconsider their approach to such programmes.
Bowman Gilfillan director Llewellyn Parker tells Engineering News that, with the introduction of the legislation, private institutions will no longer be able to exploit a university research base to access “cheap research” when public funding is also involved.
Therefore, companies wishing to secure their position as sole beneficiaries of such research will not only need to fund it in full, but also ensure that no public funding is used. This is because the new legislation has put in place safeguards to ensure that benefits for publicly funded research flow to taxpayers rather than to single corporate entities.
There are, nevertheless, potential positive spin-offs for research-supporting companies owing to the fact that, in instances where a university or individual researchers refrain from applying for intellectual property (IP) protection, private enterprise will be offered the opportunity to apply for such protection... [More]