Software as an asset for technology transfer : 2nd TTO Circle workshop on best practices : workshop report

This report includes a summary of the discussions held and the presentations made at the 2015 Technology Transfer Office Circle (TTO Circle) workshop on 'Software as an asset for technology transfer', jointly organised by three of its members: the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Inria). The workshop took place in Brussels on 30 September and 1 October 2015 and is the second event organised in the framework of the TTO Circle workshops for the promotion of best practices in technology transfer. These annual workshops are held to present and discuss different approaches to technology transfer and to compare different strategies for commercialisation of intellectual property (IP). They are also considered as the fora where participants can extend their discussions in smaller groups, and explore areas for future collaboration. Participants benefited from the experience of the various invited speakers, a mix of TTO Circle members and outside experts from academia, publishing and patent attorney practices, as well as from the Q&A sessions where animated discussions took place. The purpose of this workshop was to analyse the development of software products in public research institutions and its early-stage commercialisation, in order to foster thought-provoking discussions among members and define and draw conclusions on best practice, by comparing lessons learned, challenges and success stories. Suggestions and comments made during the workshop have been taken into account to produce this document, and are based mainly on the content of the presentations in the different workshop sessions, and on the outcome of the discussions among participants. All the individual presentations can be found and downloaded from the website: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/event/conference/9th-plenary-meeting-european-tto-circle?search.