iEdison - About

What is the purpose? 

Interagency Edison (iEdison) allows government grantees and contractors to report government-funded subject inventions, patents, and utilization data via the web to the government agency that issued the funding award. More than 30 U.S. federal funding agency offices use iEdison, consistent with the Bayh-Dole Act, its implementing regulations, and agency policies (including plant variety protection (PVP) reporting).

What are the features?

  • Funding recipients can create and submit new invention reports. Each new invention report is assigned an Extramural Invention Report (EIR) number and contains the source(s) of federal funding, and inventor name(s).
  • Funding recipients can securely and confidentially upload written descriptions of inventions.
  • Funding recipients can create new patent and PVP reports associated with the invention record and provide the government with a license confirming the government's use of the invention and upload any patent application or issued patent with acknowledgment of government support.

What are the benefits?

iEdison is a unified electronic data system that receives, stores, tracks, sorts, monitors, and generates reports of inventions and patents/PVPs that have resulted from awards to extramural grant or contract funding recipients across more than 30 U.S. federal funding agency offices.

  • Users can access invention and patent information regarding their own institutions' inventions and patents.
  • Users can add or modify existing data and generate reports of inventions and patents reported.
  • Users can see a graphic overview of an invention and its related patent records and PVPs.
  • Users can upload all aspects of invention, PVP, and patent reports needed to fully comply with reporting statutes and regulations.
  • Users can receive notification messages of what information is needed to complete a report and reminders of the due dates of actions that need to be taken to retain and maintain rights to an invention.

Who can use the iEdison module?

Internal users

  • Staff from participating federal agencies responsible for Invention reporting policy and compliance.
  • Staff responsible for managing funding agreements (e.g., Grants Management Specialists, Contracting Officers) and for managing programmatic areas of funding (e.g., Project Officers, Medical Officers, Program Managers).

External users

  • Grant and Contract organizations receiving funding from an iEdison participating funding agency for research, development, or experimental work.
  • Subsequent owners of the inventions or patents reported by a funding recipient.