Inventors & technology licensing

Inventors & technology licensing

Overview

Our core businesses are in civil aerospace, defence aerospace, naval and in high-speed and medium-speed reciprocating engines.  

Please note: We no longer produce Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Our Energy gas turbines business was sold to Siemens in 2014 and our Commerical Marine business was sold to KONGSBERG in April 2019.

Developing new technology is important to Rolls-Royce with over £900 million spent on research and development each year. Rolls-Royce products are high-end technology with high safety margins and integrity, often operating at high temperatures using new and exotic materials, designed with state-of-the-art analysis methods and manufactured with advanced techniques.

Rolls-Royce will consider proposals both for the licensing-in of technology from external inventors and for the licensing-out of Rolls-Royce technology to other organisations.

Accessing our technology

Rolls-Royce recognises that much of the technology it develops can be licensed out to be used in other applications. Examples of areas of Rolls-Royce technology that are licensed out include Finite element analysis software, Manufacturing techniques and Testing & instrumentation technology.

If you believe that Rolls-Royce may have some technology that could be of benefit to your company, please contact the Technology Licensing team at [email protected]

Submitting ideas

Rolls-Royce’s research and development is highly specialised, so it is unlikely those not in the industry will develop technology that can be used in Rolls-Royce products. Academic or professional endorsement would add credibility, especially for radical technologies such as novel propulsion solutions. The Aerospace industry is highly regulated, and it is difficult to consider ideas that would require changes in regulation, for example around bird strike prevention.

Rolls-Royce will consider knowledge, ideas, suggestions, concepts, inventions and technology generated externally. It is company policy that all such ideas and technology may only be submitted to Rolls-Royce via the form on this website under the terms and conditions below. This policy is in place to protect both the company and the person making the submission and to avoid misunderstandings. If you wish to submit any ideas or technology please satisfy yourself that you are adequately protected before doing so.

Rolls-Royce will contact you if we wish to discuss your submission. Please do not contact Rolls-Royce to find out the status of your submission. Rest assured, we will get back to you if we are interested in finding out more. If we have not replied within two months then please assume that we are unlikely to do so.

Terms & conditions

Definitions

  • “Rolls-Royce” means all of or any company within the Rolls-Royce Group plc, whose registered office is at: Kings Place, 90 York Way, LONDON N1 9FX.
  • “Submission” means the knowledge, idea, suggestion, concept, invention, technology, information or material which you submit on the Ideas and Technology Submission form available from this web site.
  • “Submitter” means you, the person making the Submission. 

Terms and conditions

  1. All Submissions are made on a non-confidential basis. There is no obligation on the part of Rolls-Royce to maintain the confidentiality or secrecy of all or any part of any Submission. Rolls-Royce may disclose the contents of any Submission to any person within or external to Rolls-Royce that Rolls-Royce, at its sole discretion, deems necessary.
  2. The Submitter hereby warrants that he is legally free & able to make the Submission on a non-confidential basis and that to the best of the Submitter’s knowledge, no one else has any claim to the contents of the Submission.
  3. For Submissions not covered by patent protection Rolls-Royce has the unrestricted right to use any part of or all the Submission, whether or not Rolls-Royce was working on similar ideas or technology prior to receiving the Submission. Any compensation given to the Submitter is purely at the discretion of Rolls-Royce
  4. For Submissions covered by patent protection the Submitter agrees to rely wholly on the patent rights, as defined by the claims of a granted patent. For Submissions covered by patent applications the Submitter agrees to rely wholly on any patent rights that may be granted, as defined by the claims of a granted patent.
  5. These terms and conditions represent the entire agreement between Rolls-Royce and the Submitter in respect of the Submission and supersede any previous agreement with respect to this Submission.
  6. Any action under this agreement will be brought in the courts of England and shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England.
  7. Rolls-Royce is under no obligation to respond in any way to this Submission nor does Rolls-Royce have to explain the reasons for any interest or lack of interest in the contents of the Submission. Rolls-Royce is under no obligation to return any materials, drawings or prototypes submitted in conjunction with this Submission and Rolls-Royce does not make any guarantee as to the condition of any such returned articles.
  8. Submitter agrees to fill in all sections of the Submission form. Forms filled in incorrectly are still bound by these terms and conditions.
  9. By submitting information via this form, you agree that Rolls-Royce may store your name and address information on our records.
  10. By clicking the link I agree to proceed, to the submit technology form the Submitter hereby agrees to be bound by the above terms in respect of the Submission.

If you agree with these terms and conditions please fill in the Ideas and technology submission form.

In order for Rolls-Royce to be able to give your submission adequate consideration, please give as much information as possible in response to the questions.

Ideas and Technology submission form

Please email this form to: 
[email protected]

Any subsequent correspondence with this email address will be subject to the terms and conditions as agreed on the form.

*PLEASE NOTE: submissions that do not use this form and are not submitted by the above email address will be deleted without being assessed.