Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Designs are a type of intellectual property (IP), which if protected, can provide value for...
Conclusion
Designs are a type of intellectual property (IP), which if protected, can provide value for the owner.36 The Cabinet Office told us that it owns the IP for the designs it paid for and that it either owns all or a “substantial chunk” of the IP for the majority of the designs it could have made but chose not to. We asked the Cabinet Office how it plans to maximise 30 Q 77; C&AG’s Report para 3.10 31 Q 85 32 Q 48; C&AG’s Report, paras 15, 4.8 & 4.10 33 Q 126 34 Q 126; C&AG’s Report, para 4.3 35 C&AG’s Report, paras 4.8–4.12 & Figure 6 36 GOV.UK, ‘Intellectual property and your work’, accessed 28 October 2020 Covid-19: Supply of ventilators 15 the value of the IP that it owns. It told us that, where it paid for a manufacturer’s design work as part of the challenge it will get a royalty if a manufacture uses the design to take a unit to market.37 However, while it acknowledged that this was something it would need to check on, it told us that there was no set process in place to do this and that it currently relies on the goodwill of manufacturers.38 In response to our wider concerns that the government is in the habit of giving away technology without seeking to gain value from it, Cabinet Office agreed that it would look at how government contracts consider the issue of intellectual property.39 37 Qq 90, 135 38 Qq 136–138 39 Q 139 16 Covid-19: Supply of ventilators
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
6: PAC conclusion: The ventilator challenge produced intellectual property that should be exploited to maximise value for the taxpayer. 6: PAC recommendation: The Cabinet Office should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, how it plans to maximize the value to the taxpayer from the intellectual property created through the ventilator challenge. This should include how it plans to: • use its learning from the ventilator challenge to set out how it could bring together small and large companies to develop workable and scalable products that the government needs in future; and • monitor whether intellectual property it owns is used so that it can achieve value for money for the taxpayer. 6.1 The government agrees with this recommendation. Re commendation implemented 6.2 As a result of the Ventilator Challenge, the government owns a number of designs for viable, emergency-use mechanical ventilators. It has standard licencing terms for licencing these designs and have supported conversations pursuant to organisations licencing the designs. To date, this has not resulted in any revenue to the government. 6.3 In terms of sharing the lessons learned on the Ventilator Challenge with respect to innovation, a document has been developed with key lessons and this has already begun to be shared, including at the Government Innovation Symposium on 15 December 2020.