BayPAT entered into an exclusive license agreement with Orbem
26.01.2022
Munich/Garching, Germany, January 26th 2022 – BayPAT, service provider offering services in the area of technology transfer, IP management and commercialization, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive license deal in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with Orbem. The non-invasive technology makes use of cutting-edge AI and was invented by scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), one of BayPAT’s clients. With the support of the law firm Boehmert & Boehmert, a comprehensive IP portfolio was set up, which Orbem will be able to access in the future.
Subject to the license deal is the determination of the sex of a chicken embryo as well as the evaluation of the fertility status of a chicken egg. Currently, about 90 billion chicks are hatched in breeding farms all over the world every year. Since they will not lay any eggs, male chicks from egg-laying poultry breeds are usually killed immediately after hatching. In Germany alone, this is the fate of up to 50 million male chicks per year. Besides significant ethical concerns, the current approach also entails an economic disadvantage: breeding facilities are blocked by “male eggs”, since the chicks’ sex can currently only be determined after or very close before hatching. Furthermore, unfertilized eggs are currently identified so late that they are only fit for use as low-value animal feed.
The outlicensed TUM technology represents a groundbreaking new possibility to solve the aforementioned challenges: Orbem’s product called “Genus” combines MRI with AI and provides a non-invasive and fast system for classifying chicken eggs in the first days of incubation. This allows on the one hand prematurely stopping incubation of “male eggs” at an early stage of development. On the other hand, unfertilized eggs can be identified prior to incubation, so that feeding into the human food chain is possible. By identifying sex and fertility status at a very early point in time, Orbem may prevent the death of billions of male chicks per year that are currently culled just after hatching as well as the waste of billions of infertile eggs.
“By licensing the inventions from our research years at the TUM into our company, we will be able to commercialize our breakthrough technology. The comprehensive IP portfolio we established in collaboration with BayPAT allows us to bring our AI-powered innovation to multiple markets.”, Dr. Pedro Gómez, Orbem’s Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder said.
“In contrast to all other methods currently in development, the use of magnetic resonance imaging leaves the egg completely intact and together with Artificial Intelligence, the image evaluation and classification is completely automatic. The inventors have thus achieved a technological breakthrough that will set new standards in terms of process speed, costs and reliability.”added Dr. Robert Phelps, BayPAT’s Chief Executive Officer.
About BayPAT
Bayerische Patentallianz GmbH (BayPAT) was founded in 2007 by the Universities of Bavaria e.V. and the Bavarian Universities of Applied Sciences e.V. as central patent and marketing agency to foster technology transfer of the Bavarian research landscape and cares for 33 research institutes. Under the umbrella of the Bavarian Research and Innovation Agency (BayFIA), BayPAT is a full-service technology management provider offering services in the area of technology transfer, intellectual property (IP) management and commercialization. Key clients are the Bavarian Universities, University Hospitals and Universities of Applied Sciences and its over 25.000 associated scientists, as well as non-university research institutes, industry, and independent inventors worldwide. Main focus in assessing and exploiting IP are the areas of biotechnology, chemistry, medical engineering, physics, automotive industry, energy and environmental engineering, information and communication technology as well as mechanical engineering.
Contact
Dr. Robert Phelps, CEO
Bayerische Patentallianz GmbH
Prinzregentenstr. 52
80538 Munich
Tel +49 (0)89 54801770
About Orbem
Orbem is a deep tech startup founded in 2019 as a spinout from the Technical University of Munich. The company develops AI-powered imaging technology to enable contactless object classification and analytics. Orbem has been recognized on multiple occasions for technological innovation and potential for global impact. The company received Transfer of Research funding from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, was selected as one of the top 10 teams worldwide in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, and won the €2.5M EU European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Grant to develop and scale game-changing innovations.
Contact
Dr. Pedro Gómez, CEO
Orbem GmbH
Lichtenbergstr. 8
85748 Garching
Tel +49 (0) 89 954597541
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