ICAERUS | Platform

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Explore your IP & Openness Strategy

This 6-step navigator helps ICAERUS OC participants clarify their best IP direction.

Based on EU IP & Horizon Europe practice For ICAERUS trials & OC participants Orientation, not legal advice

Step 1 · Uniqueness

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Is your ICAERUS result or asset meaningfully unique compared to what exists today?

Think of your drone solution, dataset, algorithm, service concept or training material in the current market or research landscape.

Strong uniqueness increases the potential for patenting and distinctive positioning, but is less critical for copyright, trademarks and basic licensing.

Step 2 · Control vs openness

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Do you mainly want to control how others use this result, or to maximise visibility and reuse?

Even if you prefer openness, choosing a clear licence helps you keep credit and avoid misunderstandings.

Step 3 · What kind of result is it

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Which of the following best describe your ICAERUS result?

Select all that apply. This defines which IP tools are technically available.

Drone related technical solution Hardware, flight patterns, payload workflows, sensor setups.

Software, algorithm or data pipeline Mission planner logic, AI/ML, data fusion, dashboards.

Dataset or trained model Annotated images, sensing time series, trained networks.

Guides, manuals, training or curricula User guides, training modules, educational content.

Brand, service name, logo or visual style OC project name, logo, colour scheme, interface style.

Business model or service concept Drone-as-a-service, bundles, pricing, partnership setup.

Step 4 · Confidential know-how

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Is there important know-how behind this result that is not visible from the outside?

Calibration tricks, tuning recipes, vendor lists, procedures – anything that gives you an edge and is not obvious.

If the value depends on things that are hard to reverse engineer, trade secret practices can be powerful alongside patents or contracts.

Step 5 · Reverse engineering

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Could someone recreate your result simply by using or observing it in the field?

Imagine a competitor or another ICAERUS follower watching it in action or interacting with it as a user.

If it is easy to copy once deployed, patents and clear licences become more important than trade secrets alone.

Step 6 · Third party building blocks

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Does your result include software, datasets or content created by others?

For example open source libraries, drone manufacturer SDKs, public datasets, map services, icons or templates.

Third party licences can limit how you exploit your result or what licence you may choose. Knowing this early avoids surprises later.