2020-2021 University technology transfer during the COVID-19 pandemic

The request was successful.

Dear Cambridge Enterprise Limited,

This is a new request that is related to on a FOI request we sent in October 2020. This previous request was titled: Licensing and patenting practices of COVID-19 technologies. This new request specifically asks for responses pertaining to the time period September 2020-October 2021, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, unless specified otherwise. Please can you make sure you reply to all 9 questions of the request, and clarify where it is not possible for you to release information citing a specific clause of the Freedom Of Information Act (2000).

For the purpose of clarity, please adhere to the following definitions when answering these questions:

Low and middle income country: A country that is defined as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’ and ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank for the year 2018. Income status defined by GNI per capita.
Source: World bank, available online [https://tinyurl.com/y5dwc2qv]

A patent grants an inventor the exclusive rights to his or her invention. A patent holder can stop other people from selling, manufacturing, producing, or using the invention for a certain period of time.
Source: Upcouncil, available online [https://www.upcounsel.com/what-is-a-pate...

Licence: Permission for the licensee to use the intellectual property rights
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/download/a...

Exclusive Licence: A licence that allows only the named licensee to exploit the relevant IP rights, the licensor is also excluded from exploiting these IP rights.

Non-Exclusive Licence: A licence that grants any number of licensees to exploit the IP.
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/synapse/co...

Health Technology: ‘Health technology as defined by the WHO: “A health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives.’
Source: WHO, available online [https://www.who.int/health-technology-as...

START FOI request:
Q1. Can you release your internal strategy, policy, or any kind of public statement regarding the technology transfer (e.g. licensing, patenting) of COVID-19 related health technologies?

Q2. Does the institution have a formal policy on licensing and patenting of health technologies? If yes, please provide a link or PDF to the relevant policy document.

Q3. Has the university considered updating their strategy regarding the licensing and patenting of health technologies since October 2021 in light of the pandemic?

Q4. Please provide an Excel spreadsheet with headings as displayed below with all the COVID-19 related health technologies LICENSED by the university AND specify which countries they were licensed in AND specify whether they are exclusive or non-exclusive licenses (time period: September 2020-October 2021).
Health Technology Licensed | Country of Licensing | Type of License (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive)

Q5. Please provide a list of patents granted to your organization for any COVID-19 related health technologies listed by patent family, indicating countries/regions in which the patent has been granted (time period: September 2020-October 2021).

Q6. Does the institution have any plans on signing up to the Open-COVID pledge (https://opencovidpledge.org/) or any similar initiative that seeks to minimise intellectual property rights barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic(since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with Open-COVID pledge, please provide files related to these meetings.

Q7. Has the institution considered the licensing of COVID-19 related health technologies to the Covid Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) or the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with either C-TAP and/or MPP please provide files related to these meetings.

Q8. Has the institution signed on to the AUTM COVID-19 Licensing Guidelines (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with AUTM on these guidelines please provide files related to these meetings.

Q9. Has the institution with the WHO technology transfer hub during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with the WHO technology transfer hub please provide files related to these meetings.

Q10. Has the institution shared their best practices on the technology transfer of COVID-19 health technologies with other institutions? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with other universities on COVID-19 health technologies in the context of technology transfer, please provide files related to these meetings.
END FOI request.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Yours faithfully,

Sarai Keestra

Dear Cambridge Enterprise Limited,

Could you please confirm that you received my FOI request dated the 16th of October 2021? Please note that according to FOI law a public institution should respond within 20 working days. I would be grateful to know when you will be answering my request, otherwise I will have to ask for an internal review. Thank you very much for checking!

Yours faithfully,

Sarai Keestra

CE Enquiries, Cambridge Enterprise Limited

2 Attachments

Dear Sarai

 

Thank you for your email.  We have no record of receiving an FOI request
from you in October.  If you would like to re-send this again now, we will
process it in accordance with the ICO guidelines.

 

If in the meantime, we can be of any further assistance, please do not
hesitate to contact us.

 

Many thanks

Suzy

 

. Suzy Lowe

[1]A close up of a logo Support & Archiving Assistant
Description
automatically generated Cambridge Enterprise, University of Cambridge

Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge,
CB3 0GT, UK

Reception: +44 (0)1223 760339

Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, 08:00-16:00

 

[2]Website | [3]Twitter | [4]LinkedIn
 

[5]Text Description automatically generated

 
[6]Subscribe to our newsletters to receive our news, and information on
our events, opportunities and portfolio of technologies and research tools
available for licensing.

 

Cambridge Enterprise Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
University of Cambridge and is registered in England and Wales. Company
Number: 1069886. This email (together with any files transmitted with it)
is intended for the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed and
may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged.
Please refer to our [7]Data Protection Policy for further information.

 

 

 

 

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Dear Suzy,

Many thanks for your email. Very strange that the last FOI request did not arrive, there is a link here to a public record where it says the request was delivered: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...
Could you send a confirmation of the request below so I can be sure it has arrived safe and sound?

We would be very grateful if you could look at the request at the earliest opportunity, as we have already received the responses of the other institutions we sent a similar request to. Thank you very much and have a good rest of the week!

Yours sincerely,

Sarai Keestra

FOI REQUEST TO CAMBRIDGE ENTERPRISE LIMITED

Dear Cambridge Enterprise Limited,

This is a new request that is related to on a FOI request we sent in October 2020. This previous request was titled: Licensing and patenting practices of COVID-19 technologies. This new request specifically asks for responses pertaining to the time period September 2020-October 2021, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, unless specified otherwise. Please can you make sure you reply to all 10 questions of the request, and clarify where it is not possible for you to release information citing a specific clause of the Freedom Of Information Act (2000).

For the purpose of clarity, please adhere to the following definitions when answering these questions:

Low and middle income country: A country that is defined as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’ and ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank for the year 2018. Income status defined by GNI per capita.
Source: World bank, available online [https://tinyurl.com/y5dwc2qv]

A patent grants an inventor the exclusive rights to his or her invention. A patent holder can stop other people from selling, manufacturing, producing, or using the invention for a certain period of time.
Source: Upcouncil, available online [https://www.upcounsel.com/what-is-a-pate...

Licence: Permission for the licensee to use the intellectual property rights
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/download/a...

Exclusive Licence: A licence that allows only the named licensee to exploit the relevant IP rights, the licensor is also excluded from exploiting these IP rights.

Non-Exclusive Licence: A licence that grants any number of licensees to exploit the IP.
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/synapse/co...

Health Technology: ‘Health technology as defined by the WHO: “A health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives.’
Source: WHO, available online [https://www.who.int/health-technology-as...

START FOI request:
Q1. Can you release your internal strategy, policy, or any kind of public statement regarding the technology transfer (e.g. licensing, patenting) of COVID-19 related health technologies?

Q2. Does the institution have a formal policy on licensing and patenting of health technologies? If yes, please provide a link or PDF to the relevant policy document.

Q3. Has the university considered updating their strategy regarding the licensing and patenting of health technologies since October 2020 in light of the pandemic?

Q4. Please provide an Excel spreadsheet with headings as displayed below with all the COVID-19 related health technologies LICENSED by the university AND specify which countries they were licensed in AND specify whether they are exclusive or non-exclusive licenses (time period: September 2020-October 2021).
Health Technology Licensed | Country of Licensing | Type of License (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive)

Q5. Please provide a list of patents granted to your organization for any COVID-19 related health technologies listed by patent family, indicating countries/regions in which the patent has been granted (time period: September 2020-October 2021).

Q6. Does the institution have any plans on signing up to the Open-COVID pledge (https://opencovidpledge.org/) or any similar initiative that seeks to minimise intellectual property rights barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic(since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with Open-COVID pledge, please provide files related to these meetings.

Q7. Has the institution considered the licensing of COVID-19 related health technologies to the Covid Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) or the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with either C-TAP and/or MPP please provide files related to these meetings.

Q8. Has the institution signed on to the AUTM COVID-19 Licensing Guidelines (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with AUTM on these guidelines please provide files related to these meetings.

Q9. Has the institution with the WHO technology transfer hub during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with the WHO technology transfer hub please provide files related to these meetings.

Q10. Has the institution shared their best practices on the technology transfer of COVID-19 health technologies with other institutions? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with other universities on COVID-19 health technologies in the context of technology transfer, please provide files related to these meetings.
END FOI request.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

CE Enquiries, Cambridge Enterprise Limited

2 Attachments

Dear Sarai

 

Thank you for your FOI request.  Your information request has been passed
on to the team which is responsible for this and someone will be in
contact with you in due course. 

 

If in the meantime, we can be of any further assistance, please do not
hesitate to contact us.

 

Kind regards

Suzy

  Suzy Lowe

[1]A close up of a logo Support & Archiving Assistant
Description
automatically generated Cambridge Enterprise, University of Cambridge

Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge,
CB3 0GT, UK

Reception: +44 (0)1223 760339

Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, 08:00-16:00

 

[2]Website | [3]Twitter | [4]LinkedIn
 

[5]Text Description automatically generated

 
[6]Subscribe to our newsletters to receive our news, and information on
our events, opportunities and portfolio of technologies and research tools
available for licensing.

 

Cambridge Enterprise Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
University of Cambridge and is registered in England and Wales. Company
Number: 1069886. This email (together with any files transmitted with it)
is intended for the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed and
may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged.
Please refer to our [7]Data Protection Policy for further information.

 

 

 

 

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Paul J. Seabright, Cambridge Enterprise Limited

1 Attachment

Sarai

Please find attached answers to your questions raised on 15 December 2021.

Dr Paul Seabright
Deputy Director
Cambridge Enterprise Limited - University of Cambridge
Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge, CB3 0GT, UK

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