Report Examines Challenges of University-Industry Research Collaboration

Collaborative partnerships between universities and industry, a long-standing element of many states’ tech-based economic development strategies, are not without significant issues that threaten to hamper their effectiveness and limit the promises of research, according to Working Together, Creating Knowledge: The University-Industry Research Collaboration Initiative. In addition to identifying the issues, the paper, based on a two-year study by the Business-Higher Education Forum, also presents different courses of action to overcome the challenges.



The report examines issues such as intellectual property, confidentiality, indirect costs, conflicts of interest, and background rights. Ownership of intellectual property, particularly when federal funding is involved, was cited as the most problematic area.



The report outlines recommendations and best practices for developing and maintaining successful partnerships, including:

• "When a university-industry research relationship is of sufficient magnitude, collaboration partners should consider negotiating master contracts. Universities also should consider developing model agreements for single research projects and ensure that the terms do not unduly disadvantage small and medium-sized companies.
• "Confidentiality agreements, when necessary, should be signed by the company, the university, and the researchers involved The company and the university must take responsibility for safeguarding confidential information. Publication delays to protect intellectual-property rights should generally be no longer than 60 to 90 days.
• "Indirect costs are a legitimate expense of performing university research. In most cases, companies should expect to pay at least the negotiated federal F&A charge for the research they sponsor in universities.
• "Although ownership and control of intellectual property resulting from a collaboration must be decided by the collaboration partners, it usually will be appropriate for the university to retain ownership. Both parties should remain flexible during negotiations, and the key measure should be whether the corporate partner has the ability to commercialize the fruits of the research to the benefit of the public. Universities should update their copyright policies to allow industry sponsors to be granted licensing terms on a basis similar to that provided with patents.
• "Collaboration partners should avoid engaging in contentious licensing negotiations during a collaboration negotiation, while preserving the ability of the university and its faculty to share in the benefits of successes.
• "Companies have legitimate reasons for requesting background rights to sponsored projects and, as part of their due diligence, should assist universities in locating potential conflicts. Universities have legitimate reasons for not providing background rights, but they should make a strong effort to do so when appropriate and feasible."

In its discussion of best practices for both universities and companies, the report stresses the importance of the relationships, personal commitment, research strengths, and interests of the faculty and company researchers. Collaboration is not usually successful when forced, the project found.



The Business-Higher Education Forum is a partnership of the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Alliance of Business. ACE is a comprehensive association of the nation's colleges and universities dedicated to higher education issues and advocacy on behalf of quality higher education programs.



Printed copies of Working Together, Creating Knowledge: The University-Industry Research Collaboration Initiative, are available for $20, plus shipping and handling from the American Council on Education. The report and appendices also can be downloaded from the Council’s website: http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/index.cfm?pubID=230

Our thanks to the http://www.mainescience.org for alerting us to this report’s release.