Intellectual property and translation - our approach

Research outputs generated by Wellcome-funded science should be translated into practical applications as quickly and effectively as possible.

This is in line with our Constitution [PDF 153KB], which states that when funding research, 'it is expected that a large part of such research may lead to results that will benefit the life, health and well-being of humankind'.

We define research outputs broadly. They include patentable inventions, software, datasets, designs, materials (such as reagents and cell lines) and know-how.

The guidance on this page applies to awards made on our standard grant conditions. It does not apply to:

• awards made to companies
• other legacy schemes or awards which were made on bespoke terms by our Innovations team, usually done in the form of a funding agreement rather than a standard award letter.

We expect you to manage your research outputs in a way that will achieve the greatest health benefit, while complying with our grant conditions and the policies we refer to on this page. This might involve:

• translating inventions into new drugs or medical devices which benefit patients directly
• developing and disseminating new research tools, software and materials, to help the research or translational efforts of others.

The methods used to generate impact from research outputs may vary, but the chosen method must be based on an assessment that will lead to the greatest health benefit.

You and your organisation must:

• make their outputs freely available to others (open access), or
• use intellectual property (IP) as a tool to protect and commercialise them.

When we assess grant applications, we look at the steps you've taken to benefit health through your previous research. This is as important to us as your publication history.

All applicants and organisations must read our:

• Grant conditions – section 8 (as well as condition 4.8 'Management of the Grant and reporting' for our annual IP and Commercialisation reporting requirements)
• IP policy
• Consent and revenue and equity sharing policy.

If your research is likely to generate significant research outputs that will be of value to other researchers and users, you must complete the outputs management plan section of your grant application. Learn how to complete an outputs management plan.

Collaborating with others on your research project

If you plan to collaborate with others on your research project, you must make sure that you comply with grant condition 8.1 in relation to the ownership and protection of IP.

The organisation administering your grant is expected to own all Wellcome-funded IP (apart from copyright in research articles which may be owned by the authors). This is important to avoid delaying the delivery of any public health impact. This can happen if various parties can’t agree over the ownership of IP and how the IP in question will be later commercialised. Limited exceptions are allowed under grant condition 8.2, which enables access to proprietary materials and the background IP of others. In these cases, when dealing with others, your organisation must ensure that the funded research project can still deliver the anticipated public health impact. This is not an issue if the award we fund does not generate any IP.

This exception does not apply to ownership of IP by individual inventors because under charity law, public health impact must be prioritised and any private benefit must not be excessive.

Conflicts of interest

You should think about whether you have any conflicts to declare under our Conflicts of interest policy: Wellcome-funded researchers and commercial organisations. This may come up if you have relationships with industry, other (commercially funded) research collaborations or positions as consultants, scientific advisors or directors.

You should immediately tell your research office/technology transfer office about the creation of any significant research outputs (for example, potentially patentable inventions, new software or new materials such as antibodies or cell lines).

You should work closely with your organisation to determine whether to use IP as a tool to commercialise such outputs, or whether to instead make them freely available through open access.

If a significant research output has been created, and you have determined that the best way to achieve health benefit is by commercialising the IP, you must comply with our:

• Grant conditions (condition 8.3), and
• Consent and revenue and equity sharing policy.

You can use your Wellcome grant to pay for the initial costs of protecting patents and registering designs. After this, your employer is responsible for all additional costs of protecting, maintaining and commercialising that IP throughout its lifetime.

Details of significant research outputs and IP creation must be included in your organisation's annual IP and Commercialisation report to Wellcome. Review the 'Reporting your IP to Wellcome' section for more information.

Getting consent

We want to make it quicker and easier for organisations to translate promising scientific discoveries. In most cases, you no longer need our consent before commercialisation (this is our ‘consent waiver’). This applies to grants awarded under our standard grant conditions, unless your award letter/funding agreement state otherwise.

Before you enter into any commercialisation agreement, you should check the specific terms under which Wellcome funded the project. This will help you determine if you need to get our written consent first.

We can also withdraw this consent waiver under our standard grant conditions if an organisation fails to meet our requirements. We check this each year when we review each organisation's annual IP and Commercialisation report. If we withdraw the waiver, all future IP transactions by that organisation will need our written consent beforehand, until we feel comfortable enough with their activities to reintroduce the waiver.

Transactions

Any IP transactions, such as licences, options, assignments, material transfer or evaluation agreements, must be consistent with our guidance on commercialisation agreements. The driving factor when negotiating these agreements should be maximising public benefit to achieve the maximum health impact, not generating revenue.

Wellcome expects a heavy focus on equitable access to ensure the maximum health impact is achieved. We expect organisations to include provisions in commercialisation agreements for equitable access for low- and middle-income countries where appropriate. The GHIAA MAPGuide may be a good starting point for institutions to review various equitable access clauses and strategies that may be suitable for them to use. Working with patent pools (such as the Medicines Patent Pool) to licence Wellcome-funded IP can be an effective way to facilitate equitable access.

All new transactions related to Wellcome-funded IP must be included in your organisation's annual IP and Commercialisation report. Review the 'Reporting your IP to Wellcome' section for more information.

Our revenue and equity share

We have a legal obligation to make sure that our funding is used for charitable purposes – not to financially benefit individuals or companies. So, in most cases, we apply a flat rate of 25% revenue and equity share where outputs of our standard grants are commercialised.

Our equity share is typically held by the relevant organisation on trust for us, and then treated as revenue when the organisation sells our shares along with its own.

Revenue that organisations have kept to date:

Types of report received:

Your organisation is responsible for reporting IP creation and its subsequent sharing (open access) or its commercialisation to Wellcome (Grant Condition 4.8). We expect you to work with your organisation to support this by keeping them updated on the creation of significant research outputs and how you plan to use them.

IP and Commercialisation report

Your organisation must complete and submit an IP and Commercialisation report by the end of February each year. This includes providing unredacted copies of commercialisation agreements that you have entered into, which relate to the activity set out in your report. This is a condition of our funding and maintains your organisation's consent waiver (see Grant Condition 8.3(b)).

Each November, we will invite each organisation to complete the report. If your organisation has not received this invitation by 1 December, contact IPCommercialisation@wellcome.org. 

Guidance on how to complete the electronic form is available in our IP and Commercialisation Quick Start Guide.

The report:

• should cover all IP-related activity for the previous calendar year and must include Wellcome grant numbers, where known
• must include copies of the commercialisation agreements relevant to all IP-related activity
• must be submitted, even if you’re only saying there hasn’t been any IP-related activity.

It is your organisation’s responsibility to ensure that all information contained in the report is accurate to the best of its knowledge.

If your organisation does not provide full copies of agreements, it's consent waiver will be revoked. You will need to get our written consent to each proposed transaction before it can be finalised. This will likely lead to contracting delays.

Overseas organisations are responsible for ensuring they account for any relevant taxes in country in which their organisation is based and should seek independent specialist advice if necessary. Wellcome is not responsible for any such taxes.

Organisations can only apply to keep Wellcome’s share of revenue received in the year covered by the report (we call this revenue retention). If your organisation wants to do this, it must:

• include a 'revenue retention request' in the report
• submit the form to Wellcome by the February deadline. Reports submitted after this date may result in your organisation's request being refused.

We are keen for organisations to keep up our share of revenue that they generate. This is, except under limited circumstances, limited to a maximum of £1 million per year (excl. VAT) per organisation. If your organisation’s application to keep our revenue is successful, the money being kept can be spent on projects that support translation. We also encourage organisations to describe how the amount being kept will be matched from other sources, to maximise the potential benefits. The projects do not need to be linked to Wellcome-funded awards if they align with Wellcome’s health challenge areas (mental health, infectious disease and climate and health). If they align with our discovery research programme they should focus on advancing Wellcome-funded awards or any translational activity. Consideration will also be given to projects that facilitate equitable access, particularly in low- or middle-income countries.

Tips for your organisation's application

Your organisation should:

• provide as much detail as possible about the proposed use of the money it wants to keep
• notify us of any changes to the proposed use after a successful application, before you re-allocate funds

Wellcome may reject an application if your organisation has misspent funds in a previous cycle. 

Your organisation must complete Appendix 2 of the report – Our Revenue and Equity Sharing Agreement – if they entered into one or more commercialisation agreements related to Wellcome-funded IP in the year covered by the report.

Revenue kept can be added to an institutional fund for IP and patent costs but should not replace or substitute the core funds available at that organisation.

Wellcome’s IP and revenue sharing policies will not typically apply to activities funded indirectly through revenue kept, but we can still request that our conditions flow down in certain circumstances (for example, depending on the value retained and the proposed work).

Where our Innovations team funded Research and Development projects – through either a bespoke funding agreement or a convertible loan (rather than on Wellcome’s standard grant conditions) – the specific provisions negotiated for that project will apply.

The protection and management of Wellcome-funded IP may be overseen by an IP management group and Wellcome’s prior consent to the commercialisation may be required. The revenue share may be different to the default 25%, but your organisation can still apply to keep it in line with the guidance set out on this page.