Great (business) idea, now what?

Let’s suppose your invention, design or idea turn outs to be the answer to an economic or social need. Are you allowed to market it? There are many laws and regulations that are relevant to students when it comes to intellectual property rights (IPR) – because that’s what this is about.

Students like you regularly come up with inventions, concepts, software or theses that are of interest to existing companies or may inspire a startup. However, is the idea really yours to market? Who decides what happens to your internship or project outcome? Who shares in the profits, if any? In other words: who owns the intellectual property rights (IPR)?

The way IPR are regulated by law has been clarified for staff and students. Check what action you must take and make use of the facilities offered by The Gate at our university campus (Alpha hub, 2^nd floor).

The IPR rules that apply to academic startups are laid down in the IPR guidelines (by Universities of The Netherlands). TU/e has a framework on IP for students in the following document: IP created by TUE students. You can find this document, next to guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions at our website: National Dutch Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) guidelines and standards (tue.nl)

For any questions or more information regarding patents and IPR, contact our IP specialists at The Gate via GateIPGroup@remove-this.tue.nl . You can also reach out to one our student business developers: Bart van Grevenhof: b.v.grevenhof@remove-this.tue.nl or Rick Bonants: r.b.j.bonants@remove-this.tue.nl