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UMIP FELLOWS PROGRAMME identifying potential applications and competitors, developing marketing materials and the analysis of patent literature. The programme is modelled on the highly successful Columbia Fellows Programme which has been running since 2006 at Columbia University in New York. Senior Columbia Fellow, Holly Wolcott, recently visited us to facilitate the set up and implementation of the programme. Holly comments: "As a postgraduate student in the Columbia programme for the past 3 years, I can speak to the benefits for student participants. The programme contributes to a Fellow's communication skills, basic knowledge of intellectual property and promotes awareness of key aspects of commercialisation. Holly Wolcott, Columbia Fellow, and UMIP's Heather Thompson We recently launched our UMIP Fellows Programme which offers a unique opportunity for full-time postgraduate students registered at the University to learn about and be involved in intellectual property and technology commercialisation activities. The aim of the programme is to enhance our ability to assess and understand the commercial potential of University technologies quickly, and to market a greater number of those technologies to attract licencees or collaborators, whilst also providing Fellows with a valuable educational experience. Fellows will also have access to and support from the team at The Manchester Enterprise Centre. We have now recruited 11 Fellows from across the University who will work closely with our Commercialisation Executives on a part-time paid basis. Typical projects would include an initial assessment of the commercial viability of new inventions, After meeting and training the first group of UMIP Fellows and the UMIP staff with whom they will be working, I anticipate that the programme will be a great success and I look forward to hearing about it in the coming year." Heather Thompson, UMIP's Director of IP Development and Partnering, adds: "Columbia University generates around 350 invention disclosures per year, which is a similar scale of innovation activity to our own here in Manchester. The benefits in terms of speed and efficiency of service to academic inventors, maximising the resources of the technology transfer office, and providing a valuable learning opportunity to PhD students were obvious. It's very exciting to be launching our own scheme and I'm delighted that Holly was able to visit us to finalise the details and run the training for our first group of Fellows." The UMIP Fellows team Download the following guides and booklets from www.umip.com A Guide to UMIP Case Studies of Licensing Case Studies of Spin-outs 9 Years of Positive Impact IP & Confidentiality Spin-out Companies Licensing IP Workbook Academic Materials and Publishing Hard copies available from: allan.prits@umi3.com 9