UW-Madison faculty, staff and students are not obligated to assign their intellectual property to WARF, unless required to do so by federal law or the terms of a sponsored research agreement with a third party.
Most technologies/products cost WARF more money to bring to market than they recoup through licensing, which explains why most inventor groups seek WARF’s professional assistance. It is expensive and time consuming to get a new product to market and WARF covers those costs for UW-Madison inventors who choose to use WARF.
Over its lifespan, WARF has been and continues to be a world leader in technology transfer. The technologies that arise from research at UW-Madison and are successfully licensed by WARF to large and small companies become products that touch untold lives.