1 CCAFS Intellectual Asset Management 1. Preamble The vision of the CGIAR is to reduce poverty and hunger, improve human health and nutrition, and enhance ecosystem resilience through high-quality international agricultural research, partnership and leadership. In furtherance of this CGIAR Vision, in March 2012, the CGIAR Consortium and Centres approved and adopted a set of ten principles regarding the management of intellectual assets (IA’s) with the aim of providing common governance and management of IA’s produced, acquired or disseminated by Centres and the CGIAR Research Programs. CCAFS follows the IA management policy of the Lead Centre CIAT. 2. CCAFS’s Intellectual Assets a) CCAFS IA’s include knowledge, databases, publications and other information products. b) Whereas several CGIAR Centres report substantial Outcomes related to the development, dissemination, adoption and impact of climate change resilient germplasm through CCAFS’s reporting mechanisms, the IA’s associated with such improved germplasm, plant variety rights, patents, industrial design rights and trademarks fall under the management responsibility of individual CGIAR Centres. 3. Rationale CCAFS policy for the management of IA’s is strategically designed to ensure that CCAFS and its partners are in compliance with: a) The CGIAR Principles on the Management of Intellectual Assets and the Implementation Guidelines which deal with the dissemination of intellectual assets for maximizing global accessibility and impact. b) Fundamental Rights as stated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other relevant international treaties, and c) All applicable International Treaties, supranational and national laws related to Intellectual Property. 4. CGIAR Thematic Principles of IA Management A. International Public Goods: CCAFS regards the results of its research and development activities as international public goods and is committed to their widespread diffusion and use to achieve the maximum possible access, scale and scope of impact in order to benefit the poor, particularly farmers in developing countries. However, in exceptional circumstances, where necessary to enhance the scope and scale of impact, CCAFS may consider alternative arrangements (see section 5). CCAFS Intellectual Asset Management 2016 2 B. Partnerships: CCAFS undertakes its work with a wide range of research, development and dissemination partners, recognizing that such partnerships are: i. Critical to ensuring both the development of and access to the best knowledge and innovation, harnessing efficiencies in product development, and achieving maximum impact through effective delivery and deployment. ii. Furthermore CCAFS recognizes that such partnerships may require incentives that must be innovatively designed, carefully managed and diligently monitored. C. Farmers’ Rights: CCAFS values the traditional and local knowledge of farmers and sees it as a starting point for discussions about climate change adaptation and mitigation. CCAFS recognizes that issues related to traditional knowledge may arise through interactions with communities and farmer groups, when undertaking surveys and socio-economic work. i. CCAFS seeks to be respectful of by national regulations on farmers’ rights and the principle of prior informed consent when working with farmers and other stakeholders. ii. Publications referring to traditional knowledge will give appropriate credit to the providers of such knowledge and disclose the source of such knowledge whilst maintaining confidentiality when appropriate. While household information collected from farmers may be included in open-access databases, care is taken to exclude sensitive data to keep it anonymous. iii. Project leaders are expected to comply with their home institution’s policies and procedures for Behavioural Ethics in relation to working with human subjects. If no such policy is in place, the CIAT Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research will apply. If needed training will be undertaken to support project leaders’ in adhering to this policy. D. Sound Management of Intellectual Assets and Intellectual Property Rights: CCAFS place high priority on the sound management of its IA’s and IP’s. To ensure that such sound management receives focused attention and adequate funding: i. CCAFS Program Management Committee has specifically delegated IA and IP oversight and management to CIAT’s General Counsel (IP focal point) with background in intellectual property and legal matters related to data and information products development and deployment. 8% FTE is budgeted for this function. The IP focal point will chair an IP Management Committee to support the CRP and to coordinate IA management across the CRP and will work closely with the Global Communications and Knowledge Manager and the Data and Knowledge Sharing Coordinator on implementation (approx. 4% FTE each). ii. All partners will be subject to CIAT’s policies on IAs and Open Access as part of contractual agreements. Partners will be made aware of these conditions, and compliance will be monitored through the CCAFS Planning & Reporting (MARLO) system. Training and support to partners will be available if needed. iii. CRP-level implementation guidelines will be developed to clearly outline specific responsibilities and procedures for IA management in the project lifecycle. This guidelines further ensure compliance with the CGIAR IA Principles by: CCAFS Intellectual Asset Management 2016 3 1) Clarifying that all CRP partners have a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use the outputs of their research under the CRP, unless special arrangements have been entered into and approved by the Program Management Committee; 2) Ensuring abidance with rules placed on the partnership; 3) Creating awareness of the partners’ responsibility to follow legal requirements concerning traditional knowledge and partners pay attention to informed consent principles, including following behavioural ethics policies; 4) Including confidentiality clauses where appropriate; 5) Seeking to be respectful of national regulations concerning farmers’ rights. iv. Engagement with private sector partners will ensure alignment of interests and clarity regarding IP ownership and licensing, as and where applicable under the CGIAR IA Principles. v. Through this delegation, CCAFS will manage its IA and IP Rights with integrity, fairness, equity, responsibility and accountability. CCAFS shall use its best endeavors to engage in IP Rights due diligence for the activities that it carries out and, in particular, to secure where appropriate IP Rights that are necessary for the development and delivery of products and / or services without infringing third party IP Rights. vi. Financial resources needed for these tasks are budgeted from the management and governance allocation to CIAT. This includes staff time and costs related to building staff capacity and supporting Open Access. This allocation is equivalent to approximately USD 9000 or approx. 0.015% of the annual overall budget. This does not include time/effort spent by Centers or Program Partners on implementation. E. Maximizing Global Accessibility and Impact: CCAFS endeavours at all times to maximize the global access and impact of its IA’s. Hence: i. In furtherance of the CGIAR Vision, all products produced by CCAFS are, wherever possible, disseminated using open access principles, with clear branding to recognize those responsible for producing the IA. ii. In the cases where particular copyrights apply, CCAFS abides by the relevant copyright rules. iii. When working with private sector entities, CCAFS clarifies that it is committed to open access on knowledge products and abides by any rules that are placed on the partnership. The following annex can be accessed in the CCAFS Phase II full proposal: • Table 11. Key dissemination pathways for maximizing global impact F. Implementation: To ensure compliance with IA principles and their implementation, CCAFS will: i. Follow up on partners’ compliance with agreements and contracts thus ensuring that all agreements and contracts, including confidentiality, partnership, comply with IA Principles; ii. Maintain a regularly updated IP portfolio which, in CCAFS’s case, are lists of publications and databases; iii. Seek that partners pay attention to prior informed consent principles; iv. Strive to have traditional knowledge is appropriately acknowledged; and CCAFS Intellectual Asset Management 2016 4 v. Ensure that information subject to confidentiality obligations from CCAFS is appropriately observed. G. Reporting: CCAFS recognizes that the CGIAR Consortium attaches great importance to the sound management of its IA’s. Accordingly: i. Each year, CCAFS’s Program Management Committee will provide a written assurance to the CGIAR consortium that CCAFS has, during the preceding year, complied with these CGIAR Intellectual Asset Principles, in particular with regard to the Sound Management of Intellectual Assets. ii. Each year, CCAFS will provide a report to the Consortium, acceptable to the Consortium, regarding the implementation of these CGIAR IA Principles during the preceding year. 5. Exceptions On occasion, to enhance the scale and scope of impact, CCAFS may wish to enter into agreements that restrict the accessibility of partner outputs. For example, projects that engage with private sector partners could give limited priority access to the partner, to incentivize their engagement. Or, the acquisition and use of the Third Party Intellectual Assets that restrict the global accessibility of the products and / or services resulting from the use of such Intellectual Assets. CCAFS will only enter such agreements provided that the requirements set forth in the CGIAR IA Principles for these types of agreements are met, and permission to do so has been given by the CCAFS Program Management Committee which must be assured that: i. To the best of CCAFS’s knowledge, it is unable to acquire equivalent Intellectual Assets from other sources under no or less restrictive conditions. ii. The products and / or services that are intended to result from the use of such third party Intellectual Assets will further the CGIAR Vision in the countries where they can be made available. iii. To the best of CCAFS’ efforts, ensure that such limited priority access or third party Intellectual Assets are only used in relation to, or incorporated into, the intended products.