Intellectual Property Management

The European Commission's “Recommendation on the Management of Intellectual Property in Knowledge Transfer Activities and a Code of Practice for Universities and Other Public Research Organisations" (IP Recommendation, often also referred to as “IP Charta”) is the starting point for one of the five initiatives for implementing the European Research Area (ERA). The Council of the European Union supports this initiative with a corresponding Council Resolution.

The IP Recommendation works on a voluntary basis. It partly addresses the Member States, and partly the universities and public research institutions (PRIs). It aims at a better socio-economic use of knowledge by actively engaging public research organisations, especially universities, in intellectual property issues and knowledge transfer activities. The Code of Practice (Annex I of the IP Recommendation) is directed towards universities and other public research organisations and contains general guidelines for an internal intellectual property policy, knowledge transfer activities and collaborative and contractual research. According to the IP Recommendation, every Member State has to inform the European Commission every two years of measures taken on the basis of the Recommendation, as well as of their impact.