Programs & Services
Express Licensing
We streamline IP licensing so you can focus on building your company, not negotiating a license.
LICENSE UT IP IN AS LITTLE AS ONE DAY
Fixed terms and fast-track licensing built for faculty founders. Open to UT Austin research faculty, grad students, and post-docs.
HOW IT WORKS
Get your express license in 4 steps.
STEP 1
Sign-in with your UT EID:
You’ll log-in through UT Austin’s standard authentication page.
STEP 2
Tell us about your technology:
Enter your Tech ID and we’ll match you with the correct license type.
STEP 3
We prepare your agreement:
A licensing specialist completes the IP details, summarizes your patent costs, and sends the agreement in 1 – 2 days.
STEP 4
Sign via DocuSign:
Review, sign, done. No back and forth. No redlines.
WHY EXPRESS
The fastest path from your research to your startup.
A license in 1-5 days
Fixed terms mean no negotiation. Most licenses are completed in 1-5 business days once required conflict of interest disclosure and review steps are complete. Learn about UT’s COI process.
No lawyer required
The terms are published and the contract is standardized — outside counsel is completely optional. Your early capital goes towards building your company, not legal bills.
Fair, benchmarked terms
Our terms are benchmarked against published startup license programs at Cornell, Yale, Michigan, and other peer research universities. You get low cost of entry, an extended patent cost repayment timeline, and clear milestones.
Full transparency
Every term is published on this page. Every contract template is downloadable. You’ll know exactly what you’re signing before you start the process. No surprises.
Investor-ready
The Express License gets the IP rights locked down so you can have those conversations now, not in six months.
UT invests first, you pay back later
UT covered the cost of protecting the IP. You reimburse over two years — 50% in year one, 50% in year two — giving you time to raise capital before bills for past patent costs come due.
Log in with your UT EID to begin. The form takes about 5 minutes to complete.
TERMS AT-A-GLANCE
We publish our terms because we believe transparency builds trust. Here’s what the Express License includes across each technology category.
| TERM | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | MEDICAL DEVICES | THERAPEUTICS |
|---|---|---|---|
| License fee | $2,500 upfront | $2,500 upfront | $2,500 upfront |
| Royalty rate | 2.5% | 2% | 2% |
| Equity | 5% fully diluted at first equity raise of $2.5M+ | 5% fully diluted at first equity raise of $2.5M+ | 5% fully diluted at first equity raise of $2.5M+ |
| Minimum annual royalty (creditable against running royalties) | Years 1 – 2: $0 Year 3: $5,000 Year 4: $7,500 Year 5+: $25,000 | Years 1 – 2: $0 Year 3: $5,000 Year 4: $7,500 Year 5+: $25,000 | Years 1 – 2: $0 Year 3-5: $10,000 Year 6+: $50,000 |
| Sublicensing share | 15% | 15% before regulatory clearance; 7.5% after regulatory clearance | 15% before regulatory clearance; 7.5% after regulatory clearance |
These are our standard, published terms, applied uniformly across every Express Patent License. Standardization means faster execution, lower legal costs, and a level playing field for every UT founder. Express software and copyright license templates are in development. View the full agreement.
PATENT COST REIMBURSEMENT
Past patent costs are split evenly across your first two years, never due all at once at signing. That gives you room to close a funding round before you repay.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5+ | |
| Past patent costs (incurred before the license) | 50% | 50% | Paid in full | —— | —— |
Past patent costs cover prosecution UT funded before the license, repaid in two equal installments across Years 1 and 2.
Future patent costs are reimbursed as incurred, with a quote and your sign-off before we spend a dollar. No surprises on your bill.
Why We Spread Past Patent Costs
Many programs ask for 100% of patent costs at signing. We split past costs 50/50 across two years so you can raise a round before the bill comes due, lowering the bar to get your technology out the door. And if the total is still too steep for your stage, tell us. We’ll work out a payment plan that fits.
Log in with your UT EID to begin. The form takes about 5 minutes to complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Express Licensing FAQs
- The Express License has been created exclusively to support the faculty-led startup licensee looking to secure rights to practice UT-owned IP as quickly as possible to engage with interested investors and generate funding for their early-stage company.
- The Express License provides favorable financial terms as compared to numerous universities who offer similar licenses designed for rapid execution.
- The Express License is NON-NEGOTIABLE.
- If the terms provided in the Express License fail to meet your needs, a standard fully negotiable license is always available, simply reach out to the licensing team.
- Simply choose the type of Express License applicable to the technology you wish to license. Fill out the on-line questionnaire form and submit.
- The appropriate Licensing Specialist from Discovery to Impact will run the necessary conflicts and background checks and once cleared will reach out to you with a draft agreement for your review to ensure the information is captured accurately. Upon receipt of your approval, Discovery to Impact will email an execution document to the signatory noted in your submittal for execution via DocuSign. Once executed by both the Licensee company and Discovery to Impact, you’ll have a license to the IP necessary to enable your company to execute your business plan.
- UT Austin research faculty, post-docs, or graduate students working for a faculty member who desires to form a startup company around UT-owned IP they’ve helped develop in their research.
- Express Licenses are NOT available to corporate licensees or members of the public.
The Software version of the Express License is currently under development. Please reach out to the licensing team to let us know of your interest as we will ensure you are first to be notified once the software version is released.
The Express License is designed for rapid execution. As they are applicable to UT faculty and grad students, conflict of interest and commitment checks must be accomplished prior to execution. Other than this, the agreement can be executed as quickly as one day.
Click here to view the appropriate contract template.
The Express License is NON-NEGOTIABLE. There can be no changes to the terms. If you wish to negotiate any specific term, reach out to your Discovery to Impact Licensing Specialist or the licensing team and they’ll be happy to work with you to fully negotiate a standard license agreement.
Start with a technology disclosure. Submit it through the disclosure form and our team will take it from there. Once your technology has a Tech ID, you can begin the Express License intake.
UT’s conflict of interest process is designed to make sure outside financial interests or startup roles are disclosed so they can be reviewed and managed appropriately, not automatically prohibited. UT enables faculty and professional staff to engage in outside professional activities, but requires certain financial interests and outside activities to be disclosed in UTRMS-COI so the Office of Research Support and Compliance (ORSC) can independently review them and, when needed, put management steps in place to protect the objectivity of research and the faculty member’s University responsibilities. ORSC’s COI office is separate from Discovery to Impact. Discovery to Impact handles technology commercialization, while ORSC administers UT’s conflict review and management process. Having equity in a startup or participating in outside professional activities is not automatically disqualifying, but those interests may need to be disclosed, reviewed, and managed under UT policy before an Express License can be finalized. Learn more about the conflict of interest process here.
You do not need to have a company already formed to begin the Express Licensing process. You can start the intake now, and the license can be finalized once there is a legal entity in place. If you have already incorporated, the main information we typically need to get started is the company’s legal name and business address. If you have not incorporated yet, UT can help point you to startup formation resources through the Texas Innovation Center, which offers consultation resources related to incorporation and other early startup needs.
UT’s Express License is designed to be fair, founder-friendly, and on-market with other university startup-license programs that emphasize speed and transparency. Like programs at Cornell, Yale, and CU Boulder, UT uses a standardized structure to reduce negotiation, lower transaction costs, and make it easier for faculty founders to move quickly. UT’s public positioning is also unusually execution-focused: the Express License is built for rapid startup formation and states that licenses can be completed in as little as one day, while remaining within the range of published startup-license approaches used by peer institutions.
Reach out to the licensing team with any questions.