Industry Collaboration Pathways

The University of Georgia has a long history of successful industry collaborations, and we offer a variety of pathways for our researchers to engage with companies at all stages of research and development. The tables below provide a brief overview of the most common research and service pathways, along with related intellectual property (IP), data, and publication terms.

We work with our industry partners to determine which pathway best fits their project. For questions or more information, please contact Nick Hinson, contracts manager in the Sponsored Projects Administration, at 706-542-3650 or nhinson@uga.edu.

PATHWAY	AGREEMENT TYPE	INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TERMS	DATA/PUBLICATION TERMS
BASIC RESEARCH Initial concept work and de novo and early-stage projects with potential for commercially-relevant output	Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA): choose either (a) Standard SRA or (b) one of three Industry Express options	Under (a) the Standard SRA, Company is granted an exclusive option to negotiate an exclusive license to resulting Intellectual Property (IP); Under (b) three Industry Express options are available for Companies desiring greater cost certainty with resulting IP*	Project data is owned by UGA, with non-exclusive, royalty-free license granted to Company for internal use; UGA may publish data/results following Company pre-publication review to protect Confidential Information/IP
APPLIED RESEARCH (UGA Technology) Work to validate, explore viability, or refine UGA-developed technology/products	Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA): choose either (a) Standard SRA or (b) one of three Industry Express options	Under (a) the Standard SRA, Company is granted an exclusive option to negotiate an exclusive license to resulting IP; Under (b) three Industry Express options are available for Companies desiring greater cost certainty with resulting IP*	Project data is owned by UGA, with non-exclusive, royalty-free license granted to Company for internal use; UGA may publish data/results following Company pre-publication review to protect Confidential Information/IP
APPLIED RESEARCH (Company Technology) Projects that explore Company-developed technology/products and overcome practical challenges early in product development	Applied Research Agreement	Company owns all IP rights relating to Company-provided materials; and if project includes UGA inventive contribution, then Company is granted an exclusive option to negotiate an exclusive license to new IP developed by UGA researchers	Project data is owned by Company, with limited license granted to UGA for academic use; UGA may publish data/results with Company approval
PROPRIETARY TESTING Testing Company-developed technology/products during the final stage of development, with possible minor improvements by UGA	Proprietary Testing Agreement	Company owns all test results and IP rights relating to Company-provided materials, including UGA-developed improvements*	Project data is owned by Company, with limited license granted to UGA for academic use; UGA may publish data/results with Company approval
CLINICAL TRIALS Conducting clinical trial protocols on Company-provided drug/device candidates.	Company typically provides its preferred Agreement	Company-driven terms typical for clinical trials	Company-driven terms typical for clinical trials

* IP Terms apply only with PI approval and when no UGA background IP is required

UGA also offers testing services to support your company’s internal R&D.

PATHWAY	AGREEMENT TYPE	INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TERMS	DATA/PUBLICATION TERMS
ROUTINE/STANDARDIZED TESTING SERVICES Testing services using established UGA methods/equipment	Sales & Service Agreement	Company owns all deliverables and related IP rights in Company-provided materials, with UGA ownership of UGA background IP	Project data owned by Company, with limited license granted to UGA; No UGA right of publication

Industry licensing options

UGA offers a menu of Industry Express options to streamline the process of licensing university technologies arising from sponsored research. Also, UIDP, an organization dedicated to improving university-industry collaborations, offers a guidebook for companies looking to partner with universities that you may find helpful.