Does your technology help aid underserved communities in the area of energy, medicine, nutrition, living standards and/or sanitation? Then this is the program for you!
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is looking to bridge the gap between business and humanitarian efforts by creating a competition for patent owners, patent applicants, or patent licensees whose technology corresponds to one of the five aforementioned categories.
Applicants are judged in either the area of humanitarian use (technology has a direct impact in a field of interest for an underserved population) or humanitarian research (technology has opened up research in a neglected field of interest).
Winners of the competition can expect to receive recognition at the awards ceremony sponsored by the USPTO as well as a certificate to accelerate proceedings in the following areas: patent application, Ex parte reexam, and/or Ex parte appeal.
Those who do not win an award are still eligible for an honorable mention which also comes with a certificate to accelerate examination.
Some of the past winners include a low-cost rotavirus vaccine, an affordable rice planting device, an improved meningitis vaccine, and vitamin-A enriched strains of rice.
The deadline to apply is currently extended to 15 February 2020.
More information, along with a video and complete list of past winners, can be found on the PatentsforHumanity website.
