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Intellectual Ventures, IIT Bombay Form Alliance

By TEAM VCC

  • 17 Mar 2009

The US based Intellectual Ventures (IV) has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT) to licence and commercialise inventions of students and faculty. The firm has signed an MOU with IIT Bombay for this, according to a PTI .

Intellectual Ventures is a pre-venture capital firm founded by two ex-Microsoft employees. It not only conceives and patents its own investments in-house but also acquires and licenses patented inventions from other inventors around the world. The investment firm will now look at possible commercialisation strategies for the inventions.

The report adds that Intellectual Ventures will pay IIT-B fees for such licensing and also bear the cost of patenting associated with these inventions. The investment firm will also set up an intellectual centre within a year at IIT-B in an area of 4,000 sq feet to hold workshops and interact with faculty and students.

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The new face to intellectual property in slowdown

A record number of patent applications are led by industrial companies every year. However in the face of dwindling projects, cutting costs, businesses are finding it difficult to justify the cost of submitting them. At the same time, the universities are also demanding a better deal from companies in return for their rights to use their intellectual property.

Intellectual ventures approach towards intellectual property of buying ideas, patenting them and then selling or licensing them for the benefit of its inventors and investors,  who receive royalties, proves all the more relevant and handy during these times. The investment firm having realised the value in doing this, is now focussing on just expanding its invention portfolio.

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Nathan Myhrvold founded Intellectual Ventures after retiring from his position as chief strategist and chief technology officer of Microsoft Corporation. Recently, the investment firm announced its alliance with Telcorida Technologies to leverage its inventors and licensing the telecommunications inventions.

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