Research Collaboration at UCI
Strategy and Resources
UCI welcomes industry research collaborations and has developed a "win-win-win" strategy for developing and maintaining these partnerships. Many of these collaborations are established to further develop technology that has been licensed or optioned by the company. It is the job of the OTA to nurture these relationships and to serve as a point of contact and coordination through the entire process.
Points to consider are:
- All projects must have a faculty champion or Principal Investigator who is responsible for the conduct of the research and coordination with the company.
- The UCI Faculty Profile System can be used to identify researchers with research interests that are aligned with the company's business focus.
- Each project must have a formal agreement (see Sample Agreement) approved by the UCI Sponsored Project Office.
- UCI participates in the UC Discovery Grant program that can provide a 1:1 matching funds for joint projects involving California companies.
Companies collaborating with UCI in these ways can benefit from proximity to first rate instrumentation, equipment and facilities on a fee for service basis, clinical research capabilities and access to faculty, students and recent graduates to enhance their workforce.
Collaboration Principles
In addition to the many benefits of collaboration with UC Irvine, it is important for companies to understand the principles that guide such relationships with the campus including:
- UCI must maintain an open academic environment when conducting research.
- Faculty must be free to publish their results (after ensuring proper protection of patentable subject matter).
- The full costs of the research must be reimbursed by the sponsor (direct and indirect costs).
- OTA will work to help sponsors acquire licensing rights to the research results.
- The company will be expected to pay patent costs for licensed technology and the University will insist on diligent commercialization for the public benefit.
- Financial interests of the faculty member in the sponsoring company will need to be reviewed and approved by the UCI Conflict of Interest Oversight Committee prior to acceptance of an award.
OTA, in cooperation with the Sponsored Projects Office, is skilled at building and maintaining productive and mutually beneficial collaborative research programs with industrial firms and will seek to be as flexible and timely as possible in its corporate interactions. Authority for most decisions and agreements now rests with the campus.
