The CSIR is committed to making a greater impact in industry and consequently on the economy. The commercialisation of technologies and innovations for industrial and societal development is a powerful mechanism to achieve impact. To meet this intent, the CSIR is offering a suite of technologies, from across its various clusters, for commercialisation.

The offering includes technologies that are at prototype or minimum viable product stage. Interested parties may be able to go to market with these technologies in a relatively short space of time, depending on their level of commercial preparedness, absorptive capacity for the new technology and necessary resources amongst other aspects. The CSIR portfolio also includes early-stage technologies that may need further development and investment before they are ready. These may be useful for companies that are looking to invest at an early stage in products that could be game changers in the future.

CSIR’s technologies are transferred, typically via licence agreements, to existing companies or to new ventures established for the purpose of commercialising the relevant technologies.

The licensing stage would typically start with the CSIR conducting, amongst others: 

• a due diligence on the interested company (financial, tax, legal and other matters);
• assessments of the business plan and sales projections;
• analyses of potential impacts (economic, social, environmental, etc.) from licensing the technology to an interested company; and
• a determination of the royalty rates and relevant license fees that would enable the CSIR to achieve a fair return on the investment.
   

Thereafter, the terms of the licence agreement would be negotiated and captured in a Term Sheet. Once approved, the Term Sheet would be expanded into a licence agreement.  The final step involves the technology transfer from the CSIR into the licensee’s production environment. During this process researchers may also transfer relevant skills to the licensee, beginning a long-term partnership between the licensee and the CSIR.

For more information, interested parties should contact the CSIR’s Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office.