Questions
Frequently asked.
What inventors and institutions most often want to know before getting in touch. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
About IP Futures
What does IP Futures do?
We help inventors and institutions turn intellectual property into products, partnerships and revenue. That covers assessing and valuing the IP, choosing a commercial pathway, planning protection across countries, structuring licences and finding partners and capital.
What kinds of intellectual property do you work with?
Patents and patent applications are the core of our work, along with the know-how and trade secrets that surround them. We also work with registered designs, plant varieties, software and trade marks where they form part of a commercial package.
Are you a law firm or patent attorney?
No. We focus on commercialisation, and work alongside your patent attorneys and legal advisers — or help you find suitable ones in the jurisdictions you need.
Which countries do you work in?
Our work is cross-border by design. We take on projects wherever the innovator is based, and pursue partners and markets wherever the IP has the strongest commercial case.
Submitting an expression of interest
What is an expression of interest (EOI)?
It is a short form that introduces you and your IP to us. It is not a contract and creates no obligation on either side. We use it to decide whether, and how, we can be useful to you.
Who should submit one?
Independent inventors, universities and research institutes, start-ups and established companies, and public agencies — anyone who holds or is developing intellectual property and wants help taking it further.
What should I include?
Who you are, the field the invention is in, how far developed it is, what protection you have or plan to seek, and what you are hoping to achieve. Describe what the invention does and for whom, not how it works.
Do I need a granted patent before approaching you?
No. Many engagements begin at the provisional or pre-filing stage, when decisions about what and where to file have the greatest effect on value. If you have not filed anything yet, say so in your EOI and keep the technical detail out of it.
Do I need a valuation or market analysis first?
No. If you already have one it is useful to mention, but assessing the IP and its market is part of what we do.
Assessment
What happens after I submit?
We read your EOI and reply by email. If there looks to be a fit, we arrange a call, put a confidentiality agreement in place and ask for the detail we need to assess the IP properly.
How long does it take?
An initial reply is quick. A full assessment depends on the complexity of the technology and how much material there is to review; we will give you an expected timeframe before we begin.
Will I hear back if you cannot help?
Yes. We reply to every EOI, and where we are not the right fit we will say so and, where we can, point you towards someone who may be.
Confidentiality & ownership
Is what I send you confidential?
The EOI is designed to be non-confidential: describe what your invention does, not how it does it. Before we look at anything enabling or unpublished, we put a confidentiality agreement in place with you.
Do I keep ownership of my IP?
Yes. Submitting an EOI transfers no rights of any kind. Any later arrangement that affects ownership or licensing would be set out in a written agreement that you choose to sign.
Is submitting an EOI binding?
No. Neither you nor we are committed to anything by it, and you are free to speak to others at the same time.
What if I have not filed for protection yet?
Take particular care. Disclosing how an invention works before filing can affect your ability to protect it. Keep your EOI to the problem solved and the benefit delivered, and speak to a patent attorney before sharing technical detail with anyone.
Engagement & cost
What does it cost?
Submitting an EOI and the initial conversation that follows are free. The terms of any further engagement depend on the pathway and are agreed in writing before work begins.
What forms can an engagement take?
It depends on what the IP needs. Some engagements are a single piece of work, such as an assessment or a protection plan. Others run through a full commercialisation pathway, from strategy to signed agreements. See what we do for the individual services.
Do you provide funding?
Our role is to make IP ready for partners and funders and to introduce the right ones. Whether funding is available, and from whom, depends on the project and is something we cover in the assessment.
How long does commercialisation take?
It varies widely with the technology, the sector and the pathway. A licence for a mature technology can close in months; a spin-out built around early-stage research is a multi-year effort. Our assessment will give you a realistic timeline before you commit.
Getting started
Can I send updates or additional IP later?
Yes. If your circumstances change — a new filing, a prototype, interest from a company — tell us by email. A separate invention is best sent as its own EOI.
How do I begin?
Complete the expression of interest, or write to us at info@ipfutures.org.
Start here
Have something worth taking further?
Tell us about it in an expression of interest, or write to us at info@ipfutures.org.