Polsky Launches New Inventor Portal to Streamline Invention Disclosure

(Seen here, the Inventor Portal is accessed using your CNetID and password)

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has launched a convenient online Inventor Portal through which researchers can submit new disclosures related to inventions, research materials, and software.

The Polsky Center protects, manages, and supports the commercialization of inventions and other intellectual property generated through research at the University of Chicago, UChicago Medicine, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Toyota Technological Institute. Submitting an invention disclosure through the Inventor Portal is the first step to engaging with the Polsky Center in the commercialization process.

To preserve the most options, and to be compliant with the University’s obligations to research sponsors’ a disclosure should be submitted before the work is publicly revealed. University researchers with a new translational result should engage the Polsky Center before any of the following:

• publishing, including on a preprint server;
• submitting to a “publish then review” journal;
• a conference or grant abstract appears on a website;
• giving a talk or poster at a conference,
• defending a thesis;
• sending material to a company;
• or talking to reporters or members of the media.

Working with the Polsky Center will not delay dissemination of the work; however, the earlier in the process researchers reach out (ideally a few months before a talk or publication), the better.

“We help investigators with projects that may benefit from a commercial partner. In some cases, obtaining intellectual property protection is necessary to incentivize a partner to commercially develop the technology,” said Eric Ginsburg, senior director, intellectual property and technology development. The team also advises on the various types of Open Source licenses used to distribute software.

“The new Portal makes it easier for researchers to inform the Polsky Center of their translational discoveries well before any public presentation or publication, preserving the most options for dissemination of the technology to the public,” Ginsburg added. It also allows researchers to see the status of their previous disclosures, along with any associated patents and executed license agreements. Additionally, if you need more than one session to assemble the information needed, the system allows you to pick up where you left off, retaining a draft until you are ready to submit.

The new Inventor Portal will increase the accuracy of researchers’ submissions and streamline the Polsky Center’s reporting of invention disclosures as required by research sponsors, such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, private foundations, and industrial partners.

The Inventor Portal can be accessed using your CNetID and password, here.

// If you are a researcher from UChicago, the Marine Biological Laboratory, or the Toyota Technological Institute researcher and need assistance accessing the Portal, please contact inventions@uchicago.edu or 773-702-1692.