The Universities of Bristol, Glasgow and King’s College London have won £80,000 in funding from the Intellectual Property Office – the government body responsible for granting Intellectual Property (IP) rights in the United Kingdom – to pioneer easy access to their intellectual assets.

Earlier this year, Glasgow became the first UK university to offer Intellectual Property, including groundbreaking medical and scientific research, to business and entrepreneurs free of charge.

Led by the three universities, the £80,000 award will be used to fund a collaborative project to move the free IP concept on to create a consortium of open-innovation universities.

The project aims to collectively promote free IP opportunities to industry and increase awareness of the vital role universities have in stimulating innovation and economic competitiveness.

Dr Kevin Cullen, Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Glasgow, who is leading the project, said: "We hope to run an open and accessible project which aims to embed and test a new approach to licensing whilst stimulating debate around the issues of university and company collaboration, and the role which universities have in encouraging innovation for the benefit of UK society and the economy."

Dr Neil Bradshaw, Director of Enterprise at the University of Bristol, said: "This pioneering project will advance the use of IP created by our three Universities by innovative growth companies and offers a new way for Universities to contribute to the growth required in the UK economy."

Dr Alison Campbell, Managing Director, King’s College London Business, said: “This project allows us to capitalise on our ethos of open innovation at King’s. Our ambition is that it enables more effective engagement with industry across the sector.”

The universities successfully bid for the funding through the highly-competitive Intellectual Property Office Fast Forward Competition, the £80,000 award was only one of ten projects funded.