UW Marketing & Communications Guidelines

Companies that license UW intellectual property through CoMotion can factually state that they have a license from the University of Washington in public announcements and materials. Use of department, school, or other unit specific names requires approval from the applicable unit. Use of logos also requires prior approval. To request approval to use the CoMotion logo contact: uwcomotion@uw.edu. To request approval to use the University of Washington or UW Medicine logo contact: licensing@UW.edu.

When using their University of Washington title, UW faculty and staff can make factual public statements about companies and products. University of Washington faculty members and employees cannot use their University of Washington title to make a statement that endorses a company or a product. This includes when the faculty member or employee is a founder, consultant, or employee of a company. Please reach out to your department or school to seek approval in advance for quotes you wish to include in any public statement or on a website.

“Company X reports that as a result of its game-changing study conducted in collaboration with the University of Washington, thousands of lives will be saved through the use of its amazing drug XX.
Note: As an alternative, it would be acceptable to say something like “A study conducted by Company X and the University of Washington included 15 study participants and recently-published results showed a 10% decrease in XX symptoms.”

“Company X and Dr. Smith, world-renowned doctor at the University of Washington, just announced they are partnering to study cures for blood disorders using Company X’s new drug.
Note: As an alternative, it would be acceptable to say something like “Company X and the University of Washington will be conducting a study regarding the use of cell engineering techniques to treat certain blood disorders.”

When preparing to issue a team, company or joint press release, be sure to let your CoMotion Innovation Manager know well in advance so that our marketing team can review it and prepare to amplify it. There are two things that should be included in your press release:

1. Mention of how UW CoMotion supported your project or company, and refer to CoMotion as “the University of Washington’s collaborative innovation hub”.
For example:
“CoMotion, the University of Washington’s collaborative innovation hub, supported the work through patent filing and strategy, a CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund grant for support of early commercialization activities, and letters of support for other funding. CoMotion worked diligently with the company in completing its licensing of exclusive rights to the X (where X is, e.g, a compound, software, curriculum, etc).”

2. Include the following Boilerplate at the bottom of the press release:

About the University of Washington and CoMotion

Ranked by Reuters as the #1 most innovative public university in the world for the last five years, the University of Washington is a leading recipient of federal funding research, producing innovations that have the power to change the world.

CoMotion at the University of Washington partners with the UW community on their innovation journey, providing tools, connections, and acumen to transform ideas into economic and societal impact. Find more information at https://comotion.uw.edu.

We want to spread the good news about your project or company! When you post to (or share a post on) social media, be sure to include CoMotion’s handles in the body of your post, or in the comments when sharing. When you do, we will see we have been tagged and will share your post. Our handles are: @UWCoMotion on Twitter, @UW.CoMotion on Facebook, @uwcomotion on Instagram and LinkedIn. For CoMotion supported projects, we also use the #CoMotionSupported hashtag if possible. You can also supply us with copy and images to post — be sure to include any relevant handles if you do.

Other ways we may help amplify your news include writing a blog post, including your news in our newsletter, posting your news to the News section of our website, sharing with UW channels, or depending on its newsworthiness, we may even pitch to reporters at media outlets such as UW News, Geekwire, Xconomy, Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Times, Crosscut and others.