DISCLOSING YOUR INVENTION TO WELLINGTON UNIVENTURES

At Wellington UniVentures – the University’s Technology Transfer Office – our mission is to amplify ideas and inventions into assets of true change and global advancement.

The information you provide in this form enables Wellington UniVentures’ team of commercial and intellectual property experts to evaluate your invention, explore relevant market factors, and derive a plan to help your invention reach its full potential!

CONFIDENTIALITY

Any communications and material you share with UniVentures relevant to your invention will be kept strictly confidential.

Our recommendation is that details of your invention are kept strictly confidential until a review of the intellectual property can be performed. This is important as public disclosures (papers, posters, conference presentations, open-sourced material, discussions with anyone having no obligation of confidence etc.) can significantly hinder patent applications and commercial opportunities.

If you have plans for publications or discussions with third parties, please let us know and we can evaluate how to navigate that scenario. Wellington UniVentures can also provide support and confidentiality agreements for discussions with third parties if needed, and we strongly suggest having these agreements in place.

FILLING OUT THIS FORM

Filling out this Invention Disclosure form and sending to us fulfils obligations under section 5.1.5 of Victoria University of Wellington’s Intellectual Property Policy to disclose to Victoria University of Wellington, any IP that may be commercially relevant.

Please provide the following details. The form is editable, so you may cut and paste text from another source if appropriate. If your invention is software, please fill out the final “Software Details” section. Otherwise, leave this blank.

Once you have completed the form, please send it and any relevant material (e.g., draft manuscripts, technical documents, presentations, etc.) to: disclosures@wellingtonuniventures.nz

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with a Commercialisation Manager at UniVentures. You can find us at www.wellingtonuniventures.nz

PROJECT SUMMARY
Disclosure Date: TO BE COMPLETED BY UNIVENTURES
Title
Lead Inventor Details	Name:
Department:
Email:
Phone:
Nationality:
Details of Other Contributing Inventors (add rows to table as needed)
Name	Organisation/Role	Email	Nationality (for IP)

INVENTION DETAILS
Invention Background Briefly describe the greater research area background / project that this invention originated from. What was the main objective of this research? This will include briefly explaining the gaps in the field that your research addresses. Summarise any precursor findings that directly contributed to you creating this invention, including a list of earlier prototypes or intermediate states of the invention. Briefly describe any relevant academic papers covering similar inventions / findings.
Background Continued What is the problem your invention has been developed to address? Why is there a need to address this problem? Try not to explain your invention here – we want to understand the context for it from the viewpoint of someone who doesn’t know your invention exists.
Basic Details of your Invention An invention is something that has been created, i.e., is something tangible. Briefly describe what you have invented, in a way that a non-expert in the field could understand. What is it? What does it do? How does it work? How is it made?
In-depth Details of your Invention Include diagrams / pictures if possible and enough information for another researcher in your field to re-create your invention if they had these details. Please provide any operating parameters and requirements (if the invention relates to a method of doing something, please provide details of the method). If you have a draft manuscript or other technical documents, reference specific portions here. If data has been collected to prove the invention exists or works, please provide this.
Potential Applications/Markets Describe the potential application(s) of your invention. Of the applications described, which has the greatest need for this invention?
Competition What alternatives are currently attempting to address the same problem as your invention (e.g., current methods, technologies, products, services and / or other research which would compete with this invention)? Briefly describe these.
Advantages What is the advantage of your invention over current alternatives (including other technologies, products, and research)?

indigenous knowledge Or mātauranga māori This section is intended to establish whether any IP may be relevant to mātauranga and taonga Māori, or any indigenous intellectual property arising from other countries.
Has this work involved the use of any biological resource? If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Did this work involve input or contribution from any indigenous groups, including any Iwi or Hapu. If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐

INVENTION STATUS
What is the development status of this invention? What have you invented so far? What is still left to do? (e.g., prototype product, proof of concept, etc).
Do you have ongoing funding for developing / improving this invention? If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Do you have any previous, current, or potential future commercial partners for this research? If yes, please describe the partnership, including information regarding any formal contractual agreements.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Do you have students or post-docs working on this currently? If yes, please list these students / post-docs and describe their involvement.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Is the invention part of ongoing research or is the project finished? If yes, please describe further planned work.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Does the invention require further investigation to determine how it works, or tests/trials to define the parameters or best conditions for it to work? What is the timeframe required to obtain any residual data? If yes, please briefly describe what further investigation is required.
Yes ☐ No ☐

FUNDING AND COLLABORATION
Were any non-VUW inventors involved in the development of this invention? If yes, please describe their role or input to the project. Please include if any contractual agreements (such as confidentiality agreements, other agreements that cover payments, resources, ownership, licenses, promises, etc) are in place, including anything that might be relevant to ownership/assignment of IP.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Have there been other organisations involved in the development or funding of this project? E.g., Marsden grant, MBIE programme, etc. or contract with private company. If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Has this project used anyone else’s knowledge, products, processes or protected intellectual property? This could include use of proprietary products, software libraries, etc. If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Are there any other parties that could claim ownership of this IP? If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐

IP/PATENT/MARKET SEARCHES
Have you completed any patent searches relevant to your invention to date? If yes, please provide copies of patents and/or patent applications you have identified.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Have you completed any searches of the published literature? If yes, please provide copies of relevant papers or findings from other research groups you have identified.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Have you completed any market research to date? If yes, please briefly summarise any significant market findings.
Yes ☐ No ☐
Imagine your invention is patented, what keywords would you use to search for your invention?

DISCLOSURE
Has the invention been published, released, or publicly discussed outside of VUW? This could include posters, presentations, non-private software / file repositories, emails or communications made without a confidentiality agreement in place. If yes, please describe.
Yes ☐ No ☐

If your invention is software, please fill out the below “Software Details” section. Otherwise, leave this blank.

SOFTWARE DETAILS
Please indicate the contribution of each inventor listed under “Project Summary Section” to this software, e.g. “100% of front-end development, 50% of backend, provided designs for front-end”.
Inventor	Contribution to Software: % and/or description
Opensource status: please tick the relevant box below. If only some components are open-sourced, please describe.
☐ All code has been released/opensourced ☐ Uses opensource components but VUW code not released ☐ All code developed in-house and NOT released/opensourced
What languages were used? List any third-party code embedded in or accessed by the software.
What is required to run the software? Specific hardware, OS, middleware/platforms like MatLab, etc.
What is the development stage of the software? i.e. is the functionality still very basic, or advanced enough to undertake beta testing, or even be a minimum viable product? What is the software’s ability to integrate to other systems/platforms? What further development would be required for this to happen?

Thank you! Please send this completed form to: disclosures@wellingtonuniventures.nz