Commercialising our knowledge

We perform R&D in order to speed up the transition to a sustainable energy supply system. Therefore, the results of our R&D activities should be made available to industries for their product development. This does not automatically imply that those results are freely available. Protection of our intellectual property through patents is essential. Such patents help to safeguard the investments that still have to be made by our industrial partners and clients. Patents also are essential since they help to generate industrial research contracts. On a case-by-case basis we decide if our results should be made available in exclusive or non-exclusive arrangements. Occasionally, a new company is founded by ECN. Two examples of such companies are SulphCatch and InDEC. InDEC successfully scaled up SOFC production to pilot production level, after which InDEC was sold to H.C. Starck.

For further information on patents and licensing, we kindly invite you to visit ECN's Technology transfer.