Commercialisation
What activities occur during commercialisation?
Most licensees continue to develop an invention to enhance the technology, reduce risk, prove reliability, and satisfy the market requirements for adoption by customers. This can involve additional testing, prototyping for manufacturability, durability and integrity, and further development to improve performance and other characteristics. Documentation for training, installation and marketing is often created during this phase. Benchmarking tests are often required to demonstrate the product/service advantages and to position the product in the market.
What is my role during commercialisation?
Your role can vary depending on your interest and involvement, in the interest of the licensee in utilizing your services for various assignments, and any contractual obligations related to the license or any personal agreements with related spin-outs.
What revenues are generated for UCC if commercialisation is successful? If unsuccessful?
Most licenses have licensing fees that can be modest (for spin-outs or situations in which the value of the license is deemed to warrant a modest license fee) or can reach hundreds of thousands of euros. Royalties on the eventual sales of the licensed products can generate revenues, although this can take years to occur. Equity, if included in a license, can yield returns, but only if a successful equity liquidation event (public equity offering or a sale of the company) occurs. Most licenses do not yield substantial revenues. However, the rewards of an invention reaching the market are often more significant than the financial considerations alone.
What will happen to my invention if the spin-out company or licensee is unsuccessful in commercializing the technology? Can the invention be licensed to another entity?
Licenses typically include performance milestones that, if unmet, can result in termination of the license. This termination allows for subsequent licensing to another business.