Intellectual property

The University of Waikato seeks funding to develop knowledge, demonstrators, and software. This project is expected to create, and enable the continuous creation of new IP.

The team plans to retain the research project IP within an entity. IP will be protected by measures including patents, retention of source code, and industrial security. The plan calls for IP to be shared by the Waikato Battery Team via licensing of software, sales or loans of battery characterisation systems, agreements for free use in limited scenarios for marketing and national benefit purposes, and via patents and publications, etc.

The university and the principals contribute background IP to the research programme (a PCT patent, the battery characterisation system IP, etc) represented as partial ownership of the future company which is taken to embody NZ$1,500,000 as of the start of 2025.

External funding from collaborators is expected to become available. This will be converted to partial ownership of the future company, evaluated by comparing their funding contribution to the current estimated company value at the time the funds are received.

Students, collaborators, and postdoctoral researchers may contribute IP; contributions may from time to time be recognized through partial ownership of the future company, negotiated at the time that such IP is acknowledged.

Cultural intellectual property contributed through the provision of any mātauranga Maori will be recognised as partial ownership of the future company, negotiated at the time that such IP is acknowledged.