Royalty Research Fund (RRF)

From lab to market: Strengthening the role of Technology Transfer Offices in bringing knowledge to the market is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes: Increased commercialisation of academic research results, by facilitating access for industry, startups and scaleups to the intellectual assets of academic research; Strengthened collaboration between industry and academia, reflected in an increased number of technology transfer deals and joint R&D projects resulting in market-ready innovations; Introduced more startup friendly intellectual asset transfer/licensing policies in universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs; Increased number of spinoffs by enabling researchers to overcome the barriers to commercialising their intellectual assets; Reduced transaction costs related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) negotiations by establishing more standardised asset transfer policies across universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs; Optimised transfer/licensing processes by universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs based on grouping intellectual assets in portfolios that can be commercialised in package deals that are more attractive for industry and investors. Scope: Academic knowledge producing organisations (universities, research and higher education institutions and RTOs) are acting as innovation engines by fuelling startups and industries with new knowledge, technologies and skilled individuals. This potential can be nurtured with efficient intellectual management strategies and effective Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). However, Europe’s potential of research valorisation is underutilised. Currently, it is challenging for industrial actors to identify and access academic results that have potential for commercialisation. On the one hand, a relatively complex fragmented landscape of TTOs generates high transaction costs discouraging companies, especially startups from engaging in collaboration or accessing academic research for commercialisation. On the other hand, the lack of financial and non-financial incentives for academic researchers hampers their commitment. Indeed, in many cases, researchers cannot fully appropriate royalties from the licensing of intellectual assets and knowledge valorisation activities are not recognised for their career progression. In this regard, the Draghi report [1] recommends European universities/RTOs to adopt a more coordinated, commercialisation minded, and startup friendly intellectual asset management approach [2] . Participating beneficiaries should engage in the following activities: adopting startup-friendly intellectual asset management strategies; accelerating the commercialisation of academic research results under fair and transparent conditions in an attractive way for innovative companies and investors, in particular for critical technology areas related to the EU’s economic security; reinforcing the adoption of best practices in intellectual asset management [3] including the equitable sharing of value generated in R&I activities; improving the support to researchers and students in commercialising research results; enhancing intellectual asset management practices by establishing portfolio approaches to market intellectual assets in package deals; facilitating the collaboration between researchers, startups and innovative companies. More specifically, project participants should: Identify and share best-practices developed to support knowledge valorisation [4] ; On this basis, create a common set of tools for start-up friendly licensing/transfer [5] to be adapted to the specific national/regional context with templates, strategies, successful case studies and business models. The toolbox could include standardised rules and processes together with flexible and adaptable clauses to support negotiation, conclusion and implementation of licensing agreements; Develop a common incentives and benefit-sharing model ensuring incentives for researchers and students to engage in com Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Innovative Europe, European innovation ecosystems Keywords: IPR management, Market-creating innovation, Technology transfer

HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-04 funds in-depth analysis of the socio-economic impacts of generative AI on Europe's Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries, with a total indicative budget of EUR 12,000,000 and individual grants of EUR 3,000,000 to EUR 4,000,000 - meaning roughly three to four consortia will be funded. This is a policy-facing social science and humanities call rather than a technology development call, and mistaking it for the latter is the most common way to write a losing proposal. The substantive focus is on creators' rights, royalty allocation, content provenance tools, transparency, and fair compensation frameworks in a market where generative models are trained on and compete with creative work. Content provenance sits at the boundary between technical and legal work, so consortia typically need genuine legal, economic and technical capability rather than a single discipline with token partners. The European context is specific: proposals should engage with EU copyright law, the AI Act's transparency obligations around training data, and the economics of European cultural and creative industries, and evidence gathered from European creators, rightsholders and platforms will be expected. Eligibility follows standard Horizon Europe rules - a consortium of at least one independent legal entity established in an EU Member State plus at least two further independent legal entities established in different Member States or Associated Countries. Given consortium formation, letters of support and a work plan of this scale typically take months, teams should treat partner assembly as the long-lead item. Applicants should confirm the opening date, the exact submission deadline and the type of action against the official EU Funding and Tenders Portal call page before committing, as aggregator listings can lag the official work programme.

Protect Marine Wildlife License Plate Grants - Louisiana is sponsored by Protect Wild Dolphins Alliance, Inc. (funded by license plate sales). The monies received from the royalty fees from the Louisiana 'Protect Wild Dolphins' special plate are used solely for the support of scientific research, conservation, and educational programs that serve to restore and protect the ocean environment and freshwater systems and to…