New Dog, Old Tricks: The Central Contradiction of Intellectual Property in Deep Tech
Gemma Milne
Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen · March 2026
Abstract
Deep tech is promoted as a better mode of innovation and as the solution to society’s grand challenges. This paper argues that intellectual property is not just a legal step in the lab-to-market process but a pervasive infrastructure that underpins the whole deep tech project.
The paper traces how IP shapes deep tech in three ways, and argues that the central contradiction of the deep tech project is a lack of institutional imagination. It closes by pointing to alternatives: new organisational models such as Focused Research Organisations, new IP models such as patent pools and open licensing, and new financing mechanisms such as patient capital and thesis-driven philanthropy.
Key findings
- 01IP creates the scientist-entrepreneur as the rightful owner and steward of socially beneficial inventions.
- 02IP turns scientific knowledge into assets to be held, traded or withheld, rather than put to use.
- 03IP underpins valuation practices aimed at ‘investibility’, giving investors collateral against uncertainty.
Cite this
Milne, G. (2026). New Dog, Old Tricks: The Central Contradiction of Intellectual Property in Deep Tech. Working paper, Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Related publications
The Science Philanthropy Vibe Shift
Gemma MilneScottish Deep Tech Report 2026
Felix Honecker, Gemma Milne, Dominic Chalmers and Jillian GordonNewsletter
New research, open events and the occasional argument. Roughly monthly.