globalaccess.gatesfoundation.orgGlobal Access

Introduction The Portal FAQ Glossary Contact Us Scroll Down to Learn About Introductionof the partners involved. Approach Flexibility Although Global Access is specific as to its outcomes, it is flexible in its approach. The range of obligations may include a basic clause, the foundation taking a non-exclusive license to the Funded IP , or a requirement that the partner satisfy certain specific milestones. Such milestones may consist of establishing certain agreements among project partners, acquiring the IP license rights to particular technology necessary to successfully conduct the project and develop a product, or developing a project-specific " Strategy." Strategy In general, the IP piece of a Strategy addresses: Identification of Background IP and specific strategies to ensure sufficient access to that Intellectual Property. Agreements and/or procedures for transfers of materials and data among project participants. Reporting processes to both the project management team and to the foundation, as well as the process for publishing and disseminating the knowledge and information gained from the project. Strategies to secure, manage, and allocate Intellectual Property rights associated with the Funded Developments or Background Technology in a way that ensures while providing incentives for future potential private sector participation. Anticipated development, commercialization, and sustainability strategies during and after the project to ensure that Global Access can be met. Strategy, Continued In this way, the foundation relies on our partners to develop creative solutions, not just in terms of the technology solution that may be needed. We also challenge partners to formulate sustainable strategies for ensuring that the product reaches our target beneficiary markets. For the sustainability of the project, we encourage partners to consider IP assets arising from the foundation-funded project in terms of how they might create incentives for all the parties along the value chain. The foundation also takes a pragmatic approach to the management of IP Rights . Effective management of IP to achieve Global Access still allows for commercial opportunities and formation of unique and powerful collaborations. The Power of Partnership Partnerships and collaborations are a critical element of the foundation’s strategy because we believe in their power to expand the reach and depth of our work. We seek collaborative partnerships with those that have the tools and infrastructure to bring about the changes that will enable all people to live healthy and productive lives. Partnerships enable us to draw on the unique talents, resources, and know-how of industry, academia, and the public sector to better serve our intended beneficiaries. IP Rights are often seen as an insurmountable obstacle to a collaboration or partnership. However, when structured from the beginning with the guiding principles of Global Access , the perceived barriers raised by IP Rights are lowered, allowing for unique partnerships that can immensely benefit the charitable markets that the foundation seeks to serve. Charitable Markets and Commercial Opportunities We recognize that many of our investments will result in new technologies, and that these technologies may well have applications for wealthy as well as poor markets. Since our grant-making model provides for our grantee partners to typically own the results, we want to talk candidly about how a grantee partner will manage these potential IP assets to achieve project-specific objectives and to advance the foundation’s charitable mission. An "incidental private benefit" that might result from the commercial application of these dual market applications is fine, as long as the charitable purpose of the project remains the central focus and top priority for all partners. We also recognize that free market forces will not take care of our target beneficiaries. In fact, that’s precisely why we’re doing what we do at the foundation: intervening where the market is not reaching the poorest people in the world. When strategically managed, new IP means we have new opportunities to assure products and solutions will reach our target beneficiaries in poor or charitable markets. Fundamentally, we respect our partners’ and others’ IP Rights . We ask our partners to be aware of the IP Rights of third parties, working with them to gain the access needed to make sure that the results of foundation-funded projects can be developed for our charitable markets without encumbrances. We think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make. Bill and Melinda Gates The Portalby expert central service facilities that enable investigators to openly share data and materials and compare results using standardized assays. GLOBAL ACCESS To ensure a truly collaborative effort, members of the CAVD must become a party to a standard data and material sharing agreement that allows for open communication among all investigators. Investigators share data, methods, reagents, and specimens. CAVD members also agree to grant other members a right to use all CAVD inventions for purposes of education and research in support of the development of an HIV vaccine. In addition, members who receive funding must make a commitment that any resulting HIV vaccine will be made available and accessible at an affordable cost to people most in need within the developing world. These are the essentials tools that allow the CAVD to find a balance between open collaboration and independent research that is essential to innovation. OUTCOME Today, the CAVD involves more than 600 investigators from 103 institutions in 16 countries, all dedicated to designing a variety of novel HIV vaccine candidates, vaccine components, and advancing the most promising candidates to clinical trials. Close Box Your browser does not support the video tag. REINVENT THE TOILET CHALLENGE Poor sanitation, a leading cause of diarrhea, contributes to 1.5 million deaths of children under the age of five every year. Chronic diarrhea can also hinder child development by impeding the absorption of essential nutrients that are critical to the development of the mind, body, and immune system. It can also impede the absorption of life-saving vaccines. The need for better sanitation in the developing world is clear. Forty percent of the world’s population—2.5 billion people—practice open defecation or lack adequate sanitation facilities, and the consequences are devastating for human health as well as the environment. INNOVATION The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued a challenge to researchers to develop and create innovative and affordable technologies that will radically improve sanitation in the developing world. Under the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, the foundation is funding research to develop waterless, hygienic toilets that do not require a sewer connection or electricity and cost less than five cents per user per day. GLOBAL ACCESS has played a role from the beginning of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge to ensure that these innovative solutions can ultimately have impact for those in the developing world that need them the most. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge funded a diverse set of partners with revolutionary ideas and as a condition of this funding, our partners made commitments. One such commitment included granting the foundation a nonexclusive license to funded intellectual property. The purpose of this license is to enable the intended products to be made available and accessible at an affordable price to the people most in need within developing countries. As long as is the primary goal, our partners can pursue opportunities for their innovations in the developed markets. OUTCOME As our partners’ efforts mature from their initial concepts towards a reinvented toilet, the commitments made at all phases of...