Collaborations with industry and/or societal partners

Identifying partners

Where your research has led to interesting opportunities which could be further developed into new products or processes, Luris is here to assist with the identification of the potential strategy to follow. And of course to identify external partners to move these ideas forward.

In some cases you may wish to remain closely involved in the next technical and scientific steps. In that case we will look for partners for you. Collaborative development agreements can then be entered into. Together with arrangements for the external partner, usually a company, which will then have commercial rights to develop the products for market. These arrangements are usually under option or licence terms with existing companies.

When a potential partner is found, Luris will, together with the scientist, discuss the invention with this potential partner under a CDA (confidentiality agreement). Often multiple companies are targeted before a successful alliance is formed.

It can take months or even years to locate potential licensees, depending on the attractiveness of the invention, the development stage and the market. Finding the right partner is often challenging, because early stage research frequently requires substantial investment in order to be ready for the market.

Luris always prefers getting input from partners at an early stage, in order to gauge their interest. For instance, on the direction the research should be focused on for the invention to have the highest chance of success in the future.

If you already know which partners you will collaborate with, make sure to inform our Business Developers as soon as possible. We will help you draft agreements between you and your partners. We will take care that your interests are safeguarded. For example by making agreements about publishing and intellectual property of research results. Naturally, the main goal of the collaboration is to enforce your research. You can think of returns that can be invested in research, or access to data, materials and expertise that usually are difficult to get a hand on.

Types of collaborations

Once a partner is found, both parties will need to agree on the shape and form of the collaboration. Many flavours exist and they can be tailored depending on the needs of the inventor, the needs of the partner and the stage of the invention.

Early stage inventions often require additional research to be done by the inventor. In such case a partner could for example contribute financially to the project or make an in-kind contribution such by making time and materials available. In return for this they will often want access to the technology for commercial use once it is more mature. More mature projects will often require the partner to do part or most of the work in order to develop the technology into a product ready for the market.

Luris can advise you on what kind of partnership is most suitable for your situation. The most recurrent types of collaborations are summarised here:

Licensing agreement In case of a licensing agreement, the partner takes on the further development and commercialisation of the invention. In return the owner of the invention (LU or LUMC) receives milestone and/or royalty payments, if and when the invention and commercialisation progresses. A license agreement can be exclusive or non-exclusive and can be restricted to a certain territory and field of application, depending on the agreement.

Research collaboration A research collaboration is focused on research. The researcher will perform (part of) the research, sometimes (co-)funded by the industry partner. Rights of any new intellectual property (IP) will be with the inventing party, however sometimes the partner may own the new intellectual property (IP) or will have an option to license the new IP, depending on the amount of funding provided.

Option agreements In an option agreement the conditions are outlined under which LU or LUMC reserves a right for a third party to negotiate a license for certain intellectual property (IP). Option agreements may be entered into with third parties wishing to evaluate the technology prior to entering into a full license agreement. Option agreements can be incorporated in a research collaboration agreement, or can be a separate agreement.

Interinstitutional agreement An interinstitutional agreement, often referred to as a joint ownership agreement, is an agreement between two institutions on patent decisions, patent management, patent costs, ownership and commercialisation, in case a patent has inventors from different institutions.

Collaboration with societal partners

Societal partners are increasingly involved in research. In what ways can Luris support you in such collaborations? Below we discuss the most common forms of collaboration with societal partners.

Joint research programs
An increasing share of national and European research budgets is being allocated to collaborations between academic institutions and societal partners, such as companies or governments. If you work for the University, you can contact the University Grant Advisors. Also, we can help you to find the overviews with funding for collaborative research and scan whether there are any interesting calls for you. Examples are ZonMW and Horizon 2020.

Contract research
Contract research can be an effective way to generate additional research budgets, to initiate a long term collaboration or to get insight in practical problems and to contribute to their solution. In the context of contract research it is the client who determines the research objectives and the researcher who does the research. The client pays full cost plus an additional fee. If contract research results in intellectual property or results, then these are generally not owned by the researcher. Publications may be possible, but will require the client’s consent.  It is therefore important to align expectations, and have clear agreements in place. We are here to support you in achieving exactly that.

Consultancy
Through consultancy you can apply your knowledge of your scientific discipline to solve a specific issue for a client. This concerns your knowledge of the publicly available information of your research group and beyond. The client pays full cost plus an additional fee, usually per hour or (part)day. Consultancy is an interesting way to generate additional research budgets or to get insight into practical problems and to contribute to their solution. It can also generate new research ideas. Research at the University of Edinburgh has shown that 65% of consultancy contracts leads to further interaction such as contract research and studentships.