Background

Aocheng Tang completed his PhD studies at the Innovation and IP Management (IIPM) laboratory, the Centre for Technology Management (CTM) under the supervision of Prof Frank Tietze. He has obtained his Master in Engineering (Meng) in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London, graduating in 2016. In 2017, he graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Master in Philosophy (MPhil) in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management.

Research Area

Intellectual Property Management

Technology and Innovation Management

Synthetic Biology

Emerging Technology Development

Bioeconomy

Sustainability Transition

Research Project

Aocheng Tang’s doctoral research aims to transform our understanding of which IP (Intellectual Property) management models exist, mechanisms (how) and conditions under which (when, where) they positively impact sustainability transitions. The project focuses on how OpenIP models can accelerate the development, adoption and diffusion of synthetic biology in the bioeconomy, particularly targeting on synthetic engineering of plant and microbial systems. The project aims to provide insight into i) implications for the ability of businesses to adopt open IP models with synthetic biology tools and technologies ii) identifying IP models that will play a role in successful business models for implementation of a sustainable bioeconomy.

This project receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Cambridge Trust, and is in collaboration with the Department of Plant Sciences and the OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre. It is also aligned with the Synthetic Biology Strategic Research Initiative of University of Cambridge.

Publications

Tang, A., Tietze, F., & Molloy, J. (2018) Openness and Closedness of Company’s IP Strategies: an exploratory study on synthetic biology start-ups in the UK. Paper presented at the R&D Management Conference, Milan, Italy.