Dear Karolinska Institute,

Please see the below Freedom of Information (FOI) request. We would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request and if possible provide a timescale for your response with the requested information.

Definitions:

Spin out (/spin off): A spin out is a company formed specifically to develop technology arising from within the university, with the direct involvement of founding researchers from the university as shareholders. Initial shareholders typically include four groups: founding researchers, the host university, investors and company management. In this case the IP is transferred into the new company in the form of a licence or other suitable means.

Licensing: A licence is an agreement involving the transfer of rights from one party (‘the licensor’) to the other (‘the licensee’). These rights commonly control the use (for copying, manufacture, sale etc.) of an IPR (a patent, copyright material, confidential know-how etc.).

Health Technologies: medicines, medical devices, assistive technologies, techniques and procedures developed to solve health problems and improve the quality of life. This does not include unpatented research tools.

Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA): Any formal transfer of knowledge/information from the university to another entity. Examples include any of those given by WIPO: https://www.wipo.int/en/web/technology-t....

This request relates to the Technology Transfer Office (ETH Transfer) of ETH Zürich. University structures differ and the relevant data may be held by different data controllers at different universities. If your organisation is unable to answer some of the questions because the data is held by another subsidiary/department of The University, please indicate this for each applicable part. Your office is hereafter referred to as “The Organisation”.

The Freedom of Information request questions start here.

Please provide information as outlined in the questions below. Please prioritize questions at the top of the list. If answers can be provided only for some of the questions, please provide information where it is available. Where information is not available in the precise format described, please provide information in the format in which it is available.

F0. Please define the dates of the last two complete reporting years for The Organisation. This period should be used for all further questions. Where this is not possible for any other question, please provide the alternative period and a reason for why it was not possible to standardise by reporting year.

F1. Please provide a list of patents granted to The Organisation in the last two reporting years, listed by patent family, indicating countries/regions in which the patent has been granted.

F2. Please provide an Excel spreadsheet with headings as displayed below with all the LICENSING AGREEMENTS that The Organisation has concluded on patents on health technologies in the last two reporting years.

Health Technology Patent Licensed | Country of licence | Type of Licence (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive)|

F3. Relating to the health technologies listed in your response to F2, specify if the licence agreements included any clauses containing any of the following keywords: “access”, “accessibility”, “affordable”, “affordability”, “non-commercialised”, “ethical”. Where a clause contains one of these keywords, please provide the original legal language for that whole clause.

F4. In the last two reporting years, has The Organisation formed any health technology SPIN-OUTS? Please check the applicable answer:

Yes/No

If you checked ‘Yes’, please provide an Excel spreadsheet with headings as displayed below with all the health technology SPIN-OUTS formed.

SPIN-OUT name | Type of health technology |

F5. Relating to the SPIN-OUTS listed in your response to F5, specify if the spin-out terms sheets (transfer agreements) included any clauses containing any of the following keywords: “access”, “accessibility”, “affordable”, “affordability”, “non-commercialised”, “ethical”. Where a clause contains one of these keywords, please provide the original legal language for that whole clause.

……..

The Freedom of Information request stops here.

We look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,
Anna