Texas A&M System Shares Innovations for Global COVID-19 Fight
Royalty-Free Intellectual Property Licenses offered for use on pandemic solutions
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Texas A&M University System is allowing its available intellectual property to be licensed for free if it’s being used on medical problems associated with COVID-19.
The Texas A&M System has joined 80 other leading U.S. research universities in allowing such royalty-free licensing during the pandemic.
The decision opens up the breadth of the Texas A&M System’s innovation to the world’s entrepreneurs as they address COVID-19-related challenges in fields such as diagnostics, therapeutics and protective equipment for medical workers.
“We want our research to be applied to the world’s most pressing problems,” said John Sharp, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. “There is nothing more pressing than this pandemic. We will help save the world in any way — and every way — that we can.”
Consider the work Pao-Tai Lin, an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M.
Lin has developed a nanotechnology sensor that enables the detection of viruses on the spot, allowing real-time diagnosis without sending samples off to a lab. The device, a set of photonic chips no bigger than a USB drive, would save time and expense associated with testing patients for COVID-19.
“I’d be so happy to collaborate with industry and bring our team’s research to commercial scale,” Lin said.
Or consider the work of Michael Moreno, Director of Innovation for Engineering Medicine, and Andrew Robbins, Associate Director for the Biomechanical Environments Laboratories at Texas A&M. They are helping prevent the airborne spread of COVID-19 among healthcare workers in the Texas Medical Center who work closely with contagious patients.
They design and make prototypes of clear, protective canopies, hoods and helmets for patients. The wearables have an optional air filtering system and access ports that are customized for different procedures — everything from intubations to childbirth.
“The decision by Texas A&M to share intellectual property honors the institution’s core values,” said Moreno, the J. Mike Walker ’66 Faculty Fellow. “It’s a great way to make sure innovations addressing the pandemic are distributed as broadly and quickly as possible.”
To facilitate access to technology, The Texas A&M University System has agreed to follow licensing guidelines that were created by AUTM (formerly called the Association of University Technology Managers.) The guidelines offer non-exclusive, royalty-free licenses for available intellectual property. In exchange, a licensee must agree to deploy the equipment, treatment or service quickly to address the health crisis.
The licenses would be for the duration of the pandemic as determined by the World Health Organization, or three years, whichever occurs first.
Entrepreneurs interested in what’s available can explore through the Texas A&M Technology Commercialization’s Available Technologies search page. There interested parties may apply for licenses and learn about additional terms and other licensing options.
Questions can be e-mailed to: Covid-19IPLicensing@tamus.edu
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $6.3 billion. The System is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M System educates more than 151,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in FY 2019 and helped drive the state’s economy.
Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu