Knowledge exchange is the process of sharing knowledge with the public. Examples include academic publication, exchanges at conferences, and relationships with industry. Technology transfer or commercialisation is a subset of this knowledge sharing which aims to achieve impact in the community and which may or may not come with financial reward.
Monash Innovation is responsible for commercialisation of university IP. See the summary of the technology transfer process at Monash - Enterprise
The team at Monash Innovation will work with creators of Intellectual Property (IP) at Monash to assess the commercial opportunity of their creation, secure the IP, and work with the creators to look for partners to license the IP to. This may be a third party or it could be to a spinout or startup company which is a newly formed company set up to exploit the IP.
The amount of time to progress an IP creation from invention to market depends on what the technology is, stage of development, demand for the technology, how strenuous the statutory regulations are, and the time, effort and resources required to get it to market.
Disclosing information about your invention in the public sphere will likely prevent your invention from being patented. Even sharing details to other researchers in conversation or through a conference abstract will minimise the chance of obtaining patent protection.
First sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement) before speaking to anyone external to the university about your IP or submitting a conference abstract etc. A patent application can be filed by Monash Innovation before publishing your research - speak to the team before you make any external disclosure or decide to publish.
If you want to be involved in a spinout or startup, you should decide your level of involvement (which may change over time). If you only want to be partially involved, you could be a scientific advisor, consultant or contractor. If you decide you would like to be fully involved, you could be anything from chief executive to researcher. Monash Innovation can discuss options with you.
Both licensing and spinouts and startups involve licensing out the IP to a company. The difference is spinouts and startups need to be set up before the external licensing can take place, rather than licensing out to a pre-existing company.
Licence revenues paid to you as a creator or inventor may be taxed as income. You should seek advice from a tax accountant for your specific situation regarding the distribution of any revenues.
The creators’ share of revenue under the licence is distributed equally amongst all creators, unless they collectively agree in writing to a different distribution. Creators can indicate uneven distributions on the Invention Disclosure form or they can sign a Distribution of Benefits Agreement.