For Researchers

This is the principal vehicle for describing the mutually agreed-upon research activities and research results deliverables. The activities should be complementary to the highly qualified research interests of the chosen faculty member(s). Also, care must be taken in setting reasonable timelines for deliverables. For example, while projects suitable for existing students can be staffed fairly quickly to carry out the work, research activities requiring new staffing are often subject to the graduate student recruitment cycle.

The research budget includes:

• University Indirect Costs*. Note that IPS team members would be happy to lead on all discussions regarding overhead with sponsors.
• Salaries (faculty, students, research associates)
• Equipment purchase and user fees
• Materials

*Please note: Effective February 14th 2018, Carleton University will not charge overheads on the industry portion of NSERC CRD grants.

Industry cash contributions & industry in-kind contributions:

• most research plans are wholly- or partially-funded by cash from the industry partner
• Carleton University also welcomes in-kind contributions (e.g., loans of specialized equipment, technological advice and guidance, participation in student projects, student mentoring, and giving presentations)

Federal & provincial granting agencies:

• an organization’s R&D costs can be significantly reduced when it partners with Carleton to have its contributions matched with cash/in-kind awards from industry granting programs
• require submission of a project proposal which is peer-reviewed and competitively awarded
• funding for these projects is largely oriented at training Postdoctoral Fellows and graduate students, as part of or in addition to their thesis work, and under the guidance of a professor
• the student’s course commitments, the need to publish, and the academic calendar must be taken into account
• many programs have scheduled competitions

Student internships:

• involve the student working primarily on site with the industry partner and researching an industry-specific problem
• work is supervised by a professor and no intellectual property of the university, researcher or lab should be involved
• provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to gain valuable work experience during their studies

Please note that the sample agreements below are provided for information purposes only – please contact a member of the IPS team to ensure that you are using the most up-to-date version and appropriate type of agreement to meet your needs.

A. Service Agreements

• is used when a Carleton employee renders a service and provides the results to a client
• no intellectual input or value-added is provided by Carleton and no publishable results are expected
• the sponsor retains all rights to the intellectual property provided by the client and owns the results
• confidentiality of the client’s information is typically perpetual
• examples include testing/measurements on specialized equipment or the evaluation or analysis of materials or compounds

Sample Simplified Service Agreement

B. Confidentiality Agreements [Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)]

• should only be entered into when proprietary information must be disclosed in order to advance potential research collaborations with Carleton
• please note that NDAs (if required) should be entered into directly with the researcher(s) and on their own behalf
• researchers at Carleton are not permitted to sign any agreement on behalf of Carleton unless explicitly authorized to do so pursuant to the Signing Authorities Policy
• researchers should carefully review NDAs and make sure they can comply with its terms before signing
• IPS can assist researchers in reviewing NDAs presented by Industry and Government Partners before signing

The Mutual Confidential Non-Disclosure Agreement may be used without review by IPS, should the Industry/Government partner agree.

C. Research Agreement

• to be used for non-leveraged industry projects (e.g., funds from an industry partner only)

Sample Research Agreement

D. Research Grant Agreement

• to be used for leveraged industry-government projects (e.g., NSERC CRD)

Sample Research Grant Agreement

E. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

• a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a nonbinding agreement between two or more parties outlining the terms and details of an understanding, including each parties’ requirements and responsibilities. An MOU is often the first stage in the formation of a formal contract. MOUs are not legally binding but are viewed as serious documents by the law. In many jurisdictions, an MOU is the same as a letter of intent, which is a nonbinding agreement stating a binding agreement will soon follow or that the parties agree to work together towards a common goal.
• for an MOU template, please contact a member of the IPS team

F. Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)

• to be used for transferring materials between institutions

*Sample Material Transfer Agreement (*template developed by the Association of University Technology Managers)

G. Data Sharing Agreement (DSA)

• to be used for transferring materials between institutions

Sample Data Sharing Agreement

Copyright and Moral Rights

Copyright can be extremely valuable for University researchers.  In Canada, authors who are University researchers are typically the first owner of the copyright in their work. Graduate students as the authors / creator of their theses, hold the copyright to their thesis.  Ownership of copyright is not affected by signing the Carleton license and the Library and Archives Canada license (which are non-exclusive).

• What is a copyright?
• Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)
• Copyright requirement for graduate students at Carleton University

The author’s moral rights is an important related consideration.  Moral rights include the author’s right to maintain the integrity of the work and the right to be cited as its author.  While an author’s moral rights in his/her work cannot be assigned, they can be waived in favour of another party.  Such waivers should be avoided by University researchers, particularly graduate students, as it may materially impact thesis requirements.

Inventions

Unless otherwise agreed to, it is generally understood that ownership of inventions made by Carleton University researchers during the course of their investigations, is to be retained by the inventing researchers.

The formal agreement regarding ownership of inventions created by appointed Carleton University Faculty members is detailed in Article 14 of the Carleton University Academic Staff Association Collective Agreement.

Carleton Innovation Transfer Office (CITO)

CITO provides commercialization support for University Researchers and Students to monetize the intellectual property (IP) that they generate through their research programs. CITO will provide support for IP protection, licensing, spin-off companies, and business development, while interacting with campus-based accelerators and the OVPRI to help research achieve their commercialization goals.

Engagement of CITO is done on a completely voluntary basis on the part of the university researcher or student, but can also be used to satisfy commercialization requirements stemming from faculty members research grants and contracts. Should an inventor wish to engage CITO for commercialization support, they will be required to complete and submit an Intellectual Property Disclosure Form. A multi-level review process will occur in order to determine the level of support that CITO will provide.

For more information, please visit Innovation Transfer – Industry and Partnership Services (IPS) (carleton.ca) for more details.