Bachelor of Science in Technology Commercialisation and Intellectual Property
African universities and research institutes produce inventions that are never protected, never licensed and never manufactured, and the loss is invisible because nobody counts it. Technology transfer is a trained profession everywhere it w...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2031.
Roles
- Technology transfer officer
- intellectual property analyst and paralegal
- patent searcher and landscape analyst
- licensing manager
- innovation manager
- research commercialisation officer
- brand and trade mark manager
- intellectual property strategist in a company.
Employer types
- University technology transfer offices
- research institutes
- the Uganda Registration Services Bureau and regional intellectual property offices
- intellectual property law firms as analysts and paralegals
- corporate research and development and legal functions
- innovation agencies and hubs
- and licensing and commercialisation consultancies.
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- A small but structurally under supplied profession with rising institutional demand as research funders increasingly require commercialisation capability.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Bachelor of Science in Technology Commercialisation and Intellectual Property. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold or are completing?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 101 | AI Fluency I: How Intelligent Systems Work Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BIV 110 | Foundations of Innovation and Technology Commercialisation Objective | 4 | 3-2-0 |
| BIV 111 | Introduction to Intellectual Property Law Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 112 | Science and Technology Literacy for Commercialisation Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 113 | Business Fundamentals, Accounting and Costing Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 102 | Quantitative Reasoning and Evidence Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BIV 130 | Patent Law, Claims and Specification Reading Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 131 | Prior Art Search and Patent Landscaping Practicum Performance | 5 | 1-0-8 |
| BIV 132 | Trade Marks, Designs, Copyright and Trade Secrets Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 133 | Data, Analytics and Technology Market Research Performance | 4 | 1-2-4 |
| COP 190 | Workplace Immersion (4 weeks, recess term) Performance | 0 | 0-0-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 201 | Ethics, Society and the African Context Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BIV 210 | Technology Valuation and Commercialisation Routes Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 211 | Licensing, Contracts and Negotiation Practicum Performance | 5 | 1-0-8 |
| BIV 212 | Technology Transfer Office Practicum Performance | 5 | 0-0-0 |
| BIV 213 | Artificial Intelligence, Data and Emerging Asset Protection Both | 3 | 1-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 202 | Human Advantage: Argument, Writing and Teams Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 290 | Co-operative Education Placement I (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BIV 230 | Freedom to Operate, Infringement and Enforcement Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 231 | Spin Out Formation and Equity Structuring Both | 3 | 1-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 301 | AI Fluency II: Building, Evaluating and Auditing Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 390 | Co-operative Education Placement II (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BIV 310 | Innovation Systems, Policy and Research Funding Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BIV 311 | Access, Benefit Sharing and Public Interest Licensing Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 302 | Enterprise, Employability and Financial Literacy Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 401 | AI Fluency III: Domain Deployment, Governance and Assurance Both | 3 | 1-2-0 |
| FDC 402 | Capability Portfolio and Day One Preparation Both | 3 | 1-2-0 |
| BIV 330 | Commercialisation Capstone: Live Disclosure to Commercial Route Performance | 8 | 0-2-14 |
| BIV 331 | Portfolio Management, Renewals and Intellectual Property Strategy Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
Total credit units: 133
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Coursework + project + integrated exam
Work-integrated learning
12 months paid co-operative education
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Bachelor of Science in Technology Commercialisation and Intellectual Property
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1
Year 1 · this step is worth 22 CU
Cumulative
22
Programme total
132
22 CU of 132 CU completed by the end of this step (17%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential ReasoningLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual Judgement CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C4Communication and Persuasion CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary Mastery CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C6Technical Production and CraftLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C7Problem Framing and Systems ThinkingLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 4 of 4, Leading
Critical capabilities for this programme: Ethical and Contextual Judgement · Communication and Persuasion · Disciplinary Mastery · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Read and assess a technical disclosure sufficiently to judge its commercial potential.
- PLO 2Conduct professional prior art, patent landscape and freedom to operate searches.
- PLO 3Apply intellectual property law to protection decisions across patents, designs, marks and secrets.
- PLO 4Draft and negotiate licences, assignments and research agreements.
- PLO 5Value a technology asset and structure a commercialisation route.
- PLO 6Manage a technology transfer pipeline and support inventors through it.
- PLO 7Apply the ethics of access, benefit sharing and public interest in commercialisation.
Why this programme exists
African universities and research institutes produce inventions that are never protected, never licensed and never manufactured, and the loss is invisible because nobody counts it. Technology transfer is a trained profession everywhere it w...
Admission requirements
UACE with two principal passes in any subjects, with a science or technical subject preferred, plus UCE with five passes including Mathematics and English. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
Business & Venture Creation
Other open programmes in this School
Bachelor of Science in Invention and Product Engineering
Africa consumes physical products designed elsewhere and assembled elsewhere, and the reason is not an absence of ideas. It is the absence of people who can carry an idea across the distance between a sketch and a manufacturable specificati...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence Product and Platform Ventures
The cost of building software has collapsed and the cost of distributing it is near zero, which means the binding constraint on an African software venture is no longer engineering headcount but judgement: what to build, for whom, with what...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Startup Engineering and Enterprise Growth
Most African ventures do not fail at the idea. They fail somewhere between the tenth customer and the hundredth employee, in the unglamorous machinery of hiring, cash management, sales process, systems and governance. That machinery is a te...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Frugal Innovation and Social Enterprise
The majority of Ugandans are not a market that existing products are designed for, and the conventional response has been charity, which does not scale, or discounted imports, which do not last. Frugal innovation is the third answer: design...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Digital Product Management and Platform Growth
Product management is one of the highest paid and most remote accessible professions in technology, and it is almost entirely closed to African graduates because it is conventionally entered after years in another role. That gatekeeping is ...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Technology Entrepreneurship and Venture Building
A structured venture building programme for technically capable people who intend to found or lead a technology company, and for professionals converting into venture roles. Unlike conventional entrepreneurship masters programmes, the deliv...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Innovation Management and Intellectual Property Strategy
Universities, research institutes, ministries and large companies across the region are being asked to manage innovation portfolios and intellectual property estates without anyone trained to do it. This intensive programme prepares that ca...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Product Invention and Advanced Prototyping
The gap between a working prototype and a manufacturable product is where African hardware ambition most often ends, and closing it requires a level of engineering and manufacturing judgement that a first degree rarely supplies. This progra...
View programme PhDDoctor of Philosophy in Innovation, Invention and Technology Entrepreneurship
Doctoral research on how invention, commercialisation and venture creation actually work in African conditions — a body of knowledge that is currently thin, largely imported and frequently wrong about the constraints that matter here. The p...
View programme