Innovation and an awareness of intellectual property issues are becoming increasingly important in the academic world, as Universities seek to commercialize their inventions and encourage entrepreneurial staff and students to start their own companies.

This workshop will provide a general and practical overview of patents, without assuming any prior knowledge. Participants will learn what happens when an invention is reported to the University, and how the University exploits its intellectual property. There will be opportunities to ask questions and to discuss specific issues of interest during the workshop.

The issues we will address include:

• What is a patent?
• What sorts of inventions are patentable? What are the criteria for patentability?
• The patent application procedure
• University of Vienna procedures for identifying, protecting, and licensing inventions
• Inventor remuneration