Purpose and target audience
UiA's principles for utilising research results are designed to help achieve goal 5 in UiA's strategy for 2025-2028, which states that UiA will strengthen its role in socially beneficial innovation and entrepreneurship, including by increasing knowledge transfer and commercialisation from research results. The principles apply to all UiA employees.
The overarching purpose of the principles is to create favourable conditions for increasing the share of UiA’s that is applied and transformed into socially beneficial solutions supporting sustainable development. The principles also apply to other types of work results, including artistic development work, where this is appropriate.
Background and explanation of concepts
As a university, UiA plays an important role in society by carrying out research and development that can lead to new discoveries, technological progress and solutions to social challenges. Making research-based knowledge available to society often starts with disseminating research results, but this knowledge can also be applied in more concrete ways.
Social innovation and commercialisation are two main routes for doing this, by turning research results into solutions that meet social needs, respond to market demand, or both. We refer to this as the utilisation of research results.
Some research results have significant economic value and can provide a basis for mutually beneficial collaboration with industry and the public sector, as well as new jobs through start-ups and growth in existing companies. Other research results primarily have high social value, with the potential to address major societal challenges. Ensuring that both types of results can create value outside the outside the university is consistent with UiA's social mission under the Universities and University Colleges Act. This mission includes disseminating knowledge about scientific results in public administration, cultural life and industry, and contributing to environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development.
This document presents principles intended to help realise this potential. It first presents general principles, followed by specific principles for commercialisation and for social innovation.
The principles are grounded in the following conceptual definitions:
Innovation: New or substantially improved products, services, processes, organisational forms or forms of communication that are put into use and that generate increased value creation and/or social benefit.
Research-based innovation: Innovation in which competence, knowledge and ideas originating from research activities are used to develop improved products, services or processes.
Utilising research results: An umbrella term covering commercialisation of research results and social innovation, with the overall aim of creating value.
Commercialisation: Work with research-based innovation where the goal is to develop a good or service that is in market demand, typically realised by licensing or selling the innovation to an existing company, a start-up or a public-sector organisation.
Social innovation: The development and implementation of new ideas to meet social needs. Social innovations can take many forms, but they are social both in their goals and in their methods; they generate social benefit and strengthen society’s capacity to act.
Societal innovation: Used as a synonym with social innovation.
Knowledge transfer: An umbrella term that includes commercialisation, social innovation and more. Knowledge transfer refers to any process that aims to acquire, collect and share knowledge, such as research collaboration, consultancy, licensing, creation of spin-off companies, publications, and the mobility of researchers and other staff involved in these activities.
Fundamental principles for utilising research results
1. Researchers shall have time, space and incentives to help utilise their own research results
A key condition for motivating researchers to work with utilisation of research results is that this work is given room within their ordinary working hours. Researchers shall have time and space for research, artistic development work and research-based innovation, and arrangements must ensure that employees have sufficient uninterrupted time for these activities, including commercialisation and social innovation. Innovation and entrepreneurship activities, and the related dissemination work, are regarded as part of researchers’ research time, in line with UiA’s principles for the allocation of research time.
2. Students should be included in work with utilising research results
UiA has a strategic goal to involve students more actively in research and innovation projects; for example through the internal support scheme “students in research and innovation projects”. Whenever UiA works with utilisation of research results, it should always be considered whether, and how, students can be invited to take part. Particular attention should be given to whether students linked to UiA Nyskaping can contribute their competence in business development.
3. Commercial opportunities should be investigated in all relevant innovation projects
Many ideas have uncertain commercial potential, and it can be challenging to decide which development path to follow.There is also not always a clear boundary between commercial and social innovations, since the same solution may simultaneously meet a social need and be in market demand. An assessment of the commercial value of ideas should therefore always be carried out, unless there are clear reasons not to pursue commercialisation. This is important because a wider range of instruments, funding opportunities and support schemes exists for commercialisation than for social innovation. By examining commercial potential at an early stage, the risk of overlooking relevant opportunities for financing and realisation is reduced.
Principles for commercialisation
1. Researchers' own wishes and ambitions shall guide the choice of commercialisation strategy
UiA does not expect our researchers to be entrepreneurs. When UiA establishes a project to verify a research-based innovation, the researcher will in most cases assume the role of subject expert, while the administration, together with external partners, handles the other project tasks.
If, however, a researcher has entrepreneurial ambitions and wants to commercialise a research-based innovation through a newly established company, UiA aims to facilitate this within the limits of applicable laws and regulations, for example by licensing any rights the university holds in the innovation. UiA nevertheless recommends that all options for further developing the innovation within UiA are first exhausted, particularly through qualification and verification projects supported by the Research Council. This can help increase the innovation’s maturity and market relevance, and thereby strengthen the chances of successful commercialisation. Practice for distributing net income from commercialisation is set out in UiA’s intellectual property rights policy.
2. Verification and commercialisation shall, as far as possible, be financed through external funds
The Research Council of Norway offers several programmes aimed at increasing the commercial use of publicly funded research, with qualification and verification funds being particularly relevant. These programmes shall be the primary source of funding for verification and commercialisation of research-based innovation at UiA, and researchers shall receive administrative support in preparing such applications.
For projects that fall within the scope of the Research Council’s programmes, the use of internal funds should be limited to early-stage prototyping and project development, with the aim of preparing the project to compete for external funding. Some projects fall outside the Research Council’s target group, particularly those with apparently low market potential. However, these projects may have considerable societal importance and contribute significantly to social innovation. In such cases, it may be relevant to seek funding from other sources. For UiA to apply for external funds or use its own funds for commercialisation, UiA must hold rights to the research result being commercialised. If rights are shared between UiA and external institutions or enterprises, an agreement regulating how the research result will be commercialised shall be concluded between the rights holders.
3. UiA recognises the importance of external collaboration to bring products and services to market, and shall not itself produce and sell products.
UiA’s internal commercialisation work focuses particularly on early-stage verification, to clarify market potential and reduce risk in commercialisation projects. Typical activities include exploring potential applications, market potential, willingness to pay and business models; identifying next steps for further research, technology development and/or strategy; mapping and securing intellectual property rights where appropriate, for example through patent applications; and establishing contact with potential investors, industry partners, customers and users. As a clear main rule, UiA shall not itself carry out commercial activity based on research-driven innovation and shall not produce and sell products on the market. UiA may, in certain cases, offer services, but only when these are closely linked to the university’s core activities and can be delivered in compliance with all legal requirements, including state aid rules. To succeed with commercialisation of research-based innovation, UiA will therefore collaborate with external partners in business and the public sector, for example through cooperation or licence agreements.
4. UiA is supportive of start-up companies, but cautious about taking part in their establishment
UiA’s intellectual property rights policy states that, as a starting point, UiA should hold one-third ownership in companies established on the basis of research-based innovation at UiA. At the same time, the policy specifies that UiA only in exceptional cases wishes to be a direct owner and manage ownership in newly established companies, and that any such ownership will in any case be temporary until UiA withdraws. In practice, UiA has not traditionally participated in setting up start-up companies based on research-driven innovation and, as a general rule, does not seek ownership in such companies. UiA is, however, positive towards collaborating with start-ups, for example through joint applications for external funding and through licensing intellectual property rights to them. UiA may not favour specific companies or subsidise company activities, directly or indirectly, in line with state aid regulations and the regulations governing state universities’ binding cooperation and acquisition of shares. Agreements that UiA enters into with companies must therefore be on market terms.
5. UiA's work with research-driven innovation shall remain within the state aid regulations' definition of non-economic activity
State aid regulations limit universities’ opportunities to use public funding for economic activities. Under the European Commission’s Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation, endorsed by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA), knowledge transfer activities are considered non-economic if two conditions are fulfilled: the activity is carried out by the research organisation itself, or in collaboration with or on behalf of the research organisation, and all income from the activity is reinvested in the organisation’s primary activities. The Research Council assumes that its qualification and verification funds are used only for non-economic activities, and strict requirements apply for separating accounts for economic and non-economic activities. UiA must therefore organise its research-driven innovation work so that it is, as far as possible, defined as non-economic.
Principles for social innovation
1. Social innovation is part of UiA's social mission
The university’s social mission includes responsibility for contributing to socially sustainable development. Social innovation is a natural element of this mission, as it concerns developing and implementing new solutions to social challenges. UiA acknowledges this responsibility and will actively facilitate the use of the university’s research results for the benefit of society.
2. Work on social innovation shall take place in collaboration with relevant actors
Social challenges are often complex and demand input from many disciplines and sectors. UiA will therefore seek collaboration with relevant partners who can help design and implement solutions. Working together in this way will improve understanding of the challenges and make the solutions more relevant. UiA will seek long-term partnerships with the public sector, voluntary organisations, and other societal actors so that social innovations are realised and create lasting benefits.
3. Social innovations from UiA shall be developed in close collaboration with users and beneficiaries
Involving users increases the likelihood that developed solutions effectively address the societal challenges they are intended to mitigate. It is therefore important that those who will use or benefit from the solutions are involved early and are given a genuine opportunity to contribute actively to the development process.
4. The scholarly community decide what they consider socially beneficial
Social innovations can take many forms, from new services and processes to changes in social practices. What is regarded as socially beneficial, and which types of social innovation should be prioritised, can vary between disciplines and contexts. The scholarly communities should therefore determine for themselves what they consider socially beneficial and, in dialogue with relevant actors outside the university, assess which initiatives from the scholarly community are best suited to addressing societal challenges.
5. Cost-intensive projects should seek external funding
Developing new solutions to social challenges can be costly, especially when the solution involves a service or product. For promising projects that fall outside the scope of the Research Council’s programmes or other public funding schemes, UiA should explore alternative sources of external finance. UiA should also consider whether collaborating partners can contribute financially, either through direct funding or in-kind contributions.
6. Social innovations should be shared openly when this increases the chances of being realised
Social innovations often generate greatest value when shared openly, allowing others to adopt and further develop them. UiA therefore encourages employees and partners to make social innovations openly available and to use open licences for any copyright-protected material that forms part of these innovations.
Contact:
- thomas.aamodt@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 91 77 44 96