• Professor Graeme Laurie (Director)
• Dr Rachael Craufurd-Smith (Co-Director)
• Professor Lilian Edwards (Associate Director)
• Andres Guadamuz (Co-Director)
• Professor Hector MacQueen (Co-Director)
• Burkhard Schafer (Co-Director)
• Professor Charlotte Waelde (Co-Director)
• Simone Hull (Administrator)
The AHRC Centre for Research in Intellectual Property was established in 2002.
Protecting intellectual property (IP) and developing the knowledge economy has become a vital issue for government economic policy, and research produced at the AHRC IP Centre is crucial to underpinning new legislation on areas such as e-coomerce, IT, biotechnology and medical ethics.
The Centre is at the heart of UK training and development in IP, offering postgraduate qualifications as well as ongoing professional development. A Master's programme in Innovation, Technology and Law has been running snce 2001. Along with a series of Continuing Profession Development courses on 'Law and Medical Ethics', aimed primarily at healthcare professionals, it is available through distance learning, delivered entirely online.
The Centre is involved in numerous government and public sector sponsored committees and forums to provide policy advice. Professor Graeme Laurie Chairs the Ethics and Governance committee of UK Biobank, a project 
involving a £60 millions investment to establish a UK genetic databank by collecting blood samples from some 500,000 people www.ukbiobank.ac.uk. The ethics and governance committee provides guidance on the use of patient data formthis database and the potential distribution of revenues generated from the sale of informatin to commercial companies. In economic terms there are two major potential commercial uses:
- by the insurance industry to assess health risks and more adequately assign market insurance prices, leading to improved resource allocation; and
- by drug development companies to lower costs and speed up R&D timeframes. Drug companies are likely to be willing to invest considerable amounts given estimates of R&D costs associated with new drug development, estimated at $802 millions (2000 prices).
A recent PwC Study found that the Centre has made a net additional economic impact of £300,000 from consultancy and research income, including multiplier effects.
Further outcomes
The Centre is involved in complex ethical debates around the use of personal data. The growth of digital technologies and the wider collection, digitisation, use and transfer of personal data in particular creates many ethical and legal questions. These are fundamental issues concerning the human freedoms and values that underpin society. The Centre's role in these debates creates a significant social impact.
Looking ahead to 2031
The total economic income from training activites will be equivalent to £8.3-£11 millions. The likely total net lifetime earnings economic benefit will be £8.6-£11.3 millions.
Further details on the work of the AHRC Centre for Research in Intellectual Property and Technology can be found on their website.
PricewaterhouseCoopers calcualted the projected future income from education and training activites using two scenarios, representing 2% growth and 2% decline in student numbers per annum up to 2031 (25 years into the future inline with HMT Green Book guidance). A multiplier value of 1.56 was added to account for income expenditure in the local economy.
PricewaterhouseCoopers calculated the prjected future scale of lifetime earnings using information from Quarterly Labour Force Surveys, taking into account leakage, displacement and deadweight.
Updated 30th June 2009