A novel analytical assay for the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate in natural waters

该探路者申请的目的是获得3990英镑的资金和增值税，以便在英国专利局申请一项新的磷酸盐（磷的生物可用形式）分析方法的专利，该方法在实验室分析和原位自主湿化学传感器中都表现出更好的性能。该专利旨在保护作为产品的分析方法以及分析方法/产品的配方。我们需要指示Barker Brettell律师事务所的专利律师尼克•布莱顿（Nick Braddon）向英国专利局提交专利申请，他的报价是3200英镑（外加增值税）。这项工作将需要我们（即NOC企业团队的Charlie Morgan， Geraldine Turner博士和socrates Loucaides博士）向Nick Braddon提供指示，通常包括面对面会议（约3小时），审查和修改Nick的草案（约3小时）并最终确定草案（约1小时），然后Nick向英国专利局提交专利。一旦在英国提交申请，我们打算委托一项新的独立市场研究，使用额外的探路者资金来研究其在(i)环境/水质传感器原位应用制造商（例如Seabird Scientific， Xylem, TE Laboratories）和（ii）全球实验室使用的分析（化学溶液）供应商（例如Scaler， Seal， Hach和Agilent）中的应用市场。专利申请和随后的市场研究将为NERC和NOC提供及时的市场信息，以评估新检测的商业机会。这将帮助我们确保在不同的市场上获得最好的授权交易。由于该技术现已达到成熟水平，该研究将通过确定每个市场中的领先公司，为我们就如何许可技术做出决策提供信息，它可以为不同市场领域（例如化工行业）的许可机会打开新的大门，并为我们未来的技术开发计划提供信息，以满足预期的市场需求。

The objective of this Pathfinder application is to secure funding of £3,990 plus VAT to file a patent at the UK patent office for a novel assay for phosphate (bioavailable form of phosphorous) analysis in natural waters that demonstrates significantly better performance both in laboratory analysis and within in situ autonomous wet chemical sensors. The patent will aim to protect the assay as a product and also the recipe to the assay/product. We will need to instruct the patent attorney, Nick Braddon of Barker Brettell, who has quoted £3,200 plus VAT to file the patent at the UK patent office. The work will require us (i.e. Charlie Morgan of the NOC Enterprise Team, Dr. Geraldine Turner and Dr. Socratis Loucaides) providing instructions to Nick Braddon which typically involves a face-to-face meeting (c. 3 hours), review and amending Nick's draft (c. 3 hours) and finalising the draft (c.1 hour) and then Nick filing the patent at the UK patent office.Once filed in the UK, we intend to commission a new independent market study with additional Pathfinder funds to research the markets for its application within (i) environmental/water quality sensor manufacturers for in situ applications (e.g. Seabird Scientific, Xylem, TE Laboratories) and (ii) suppliers of assays (chemical solutions) for laboratory use worldwide (e.g. Scaler, Seal, Hach and Agilent).The patent filing and subsequent market research will provide NERC and NOC with timely market information to evaluate the commercial opportunities of the new assay. It will help us to ensure we secure the best possible license deals across the different markets. As the technology is now reaching mature levels, the research will inform our decision making around how we license the technologies by identifying the leading companies in each market and it could open new doors for licensing opportunities within different market sectors (e.g. the chemicals industry) and inform our future technology development plans to meet anticipated market needs.