Launch of the James Dyson Patent and Proof of Concept Fund
On 14 November, at the first James Dyson Intellectual Property Seminar of the 2011-2012 academic year, the Director of InnovationRCA, Dr Nadia Danhash, announced the launch of a new fund which aims to provide financial support for students and recent entrepreneurial graduates of the RCA to turn their innovative designs and inventions into successful commercial projects.

The three-year James Dyson Patent and Proof of Concept Fund at the RCA has been set up with the generous support of the James Dyson Foundation. The Dyson Foundation, and Sir James Dyson, have been strong champions of design innovation at the RCA for several years and have also supported an annual James Dyson Innovation Fellowship at InnovationRCA in the past four years.

This new fund has arisen out of the recognition that it is often very hard for very early stage projects to progress to a point where they are ready for licensing or private sector investment without having been protected or having developed sufficient evidence of feasibility. The Dyson fund will help students and graduates to patent their innovative projects and help with this early stage development.

During the event, InnovationRCA Programmes Manager, Pauline Watkins, explained the fundamentals of Intellectual Property law with particular relevance to art and design and presented students with essential tips to help them protect their work.

The event, which was organised by FuelRCA the College's professional development programme, attracted an audience of more than 80 art and design students.

For more information contact InnovationRCA