Ploughshare is a UK’s defence technology transfer company with responsibility for the technology transfer of early stage research and Intellectual Property (IP) from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
This agreement enables Ploughshare to have access to inventions from other MOD areas such as the all-staff MOD idea scheme – GEMS, niche technical areas such as Defence Medical Services (DMS), and those instances where the MOD owns IP generated under contract, such as with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE plc).
Ploughshare will now have an increased portfolio of IP which it can make available to industry to commercialise. In turn, the MOD anticipates even greater impact from the investment it makes in research and development, and also for the wider contribution its staff can make.
James Kirby, Ploughshare CEO, commented: “The commercialisation of Government IP benefits the UK economy in many ways. For example, Dstl IP alone has created 550 new jobs and generated exports in excess of £44m. By significantly expanding the IP we have access to, those figures can be dramatically increased to further benefit the UK economy.”
The initiative will allow not just scientific and engineering developments to be commercialised but any innovative output from MOD staff.
Ploughshare will incorporate the technologies into its established approach to industry to develop commercial licensing arrangements and the creation of spin-out companies.