Comment by Daniela Antonio

As part of its knowledge-transfer mission, CERN encourages and supports the creation of companies that seek to build on its technologies and thus make CERN’s technological research available to society. In order to clarify how the Organization supports companies established to use CERN technologies (spin-off companies), CERN adopted the CERN Spin-off Policy in August 2018. The CERN Spin-off Policy complements the Policy on the Management of Intellectual Property (the CERN IP Policy), adopted in 2010. The CERN Spin-off Policy summarises the framework of CERN’s support to spin-off companies, in terms of technology licensing, financial benefits and the use of CERN’s facilities and labels. It also details the Knowledge Transfer (KT) group’s role and the possible ways in which CERN personnel can be involved in spin-off companies and, by extension, in other types of commercial activity.