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Working with Industry

The University generally seeks to expand its collaborative relationships with local and national companies, and many UA researchers find it desirable to conduct some portion of their investigations with industry involvement and an eye toward practical applications.

Considerations

Engaging in industry-sponsored projects might be of interest to UA researchers because it sometimes highlights problems of a different type, or a different degree of practical application, than research problems funded by governmental granting agencies. It also introduces students to an expanded environment, and to a potential employer. Finally, it provides a source of funding diversification.

Many aspects of working with industry are similar to academic collaborations, but companies have some additional, specific priorities. For example:

• Work statements for industry-sponsored projects can be more specific than those for federally-funded projects
• Companies that sponsor university research are almost always interested in access to any inventions and commercially-oriented copyrights created under the project
• Companies sometimes desire a delay in publication of the project results, to establish a competitive advantage, to ensure appropriate intellectual property protection, and to verify that no company confidential information is included

Procedures

The University of Arizona can accommodate all of the above company interests to some degree. UA must also operate within applicable policies, and in a manner consistent with its overall educational and public service missions.

Balancing the two sets of interests is often accomplished in the process of negotiating the details of a particular research contract, material transfer agreement (MTA), or confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), all of which are done by either the Office of Research Contract and Analysis (ORCA), by OTT, or by the two offices in collaboration.

Best Practices

When considering working with a company, keep in mind that some practices can increase the probability of a good relationship from the start:

• Principal Investigators will be most effective if they focus discussions on the work statement, i.e. what the project will attempt to accomplish, how the research will be undertaken, and the technical aspects of the research.
• Making accommodating statements about intellectual property ownership may seem to accelerate preliminary discussions but, since project IP is owned by ABOR and managed by OTT, negotiation of IP contract terms should be left to ORCA and OTT (both of which offices take care to extensively consult principal investigators).
• As an academic institution, UA will preserve faculty members' right to publish their own works, and neither ORCA nor OTT will contractually agree to prohibit, or unduly delay, any faculty publication - even if requested to do so by the faculty member in an attempt to expedite an industry-sponsored contract.
• Principal investigators are usually in the best position to provide estimates of direct-cost budget items, such as equipment, salaries, and travel, but indirect costs are set at the institution level, so final budget details should be developed in collaboration with ORCA.

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Last modified: March 15, 2006.