 TurboNegotiator (TN) is a software tool envisioned by the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership to assist companies and universities negotiate a sponsored research agreement. TN will be used to reach consensus regarding critical business elements, such as intellectual property, indemnification and publication rights.
Goals of TN:
• Decrease negotiation time. TN will facilitate the exchange of information and the joint understanding of needs, constraints and objectives of universities and industry. TN will identify underlying mismatched expectations before the start of legal negotiations preventing wasted time.
• Train new staff members. TN will provide a systematic, interactive training experience by which new or less-experienced staffers can work their way through issues that more experienced negotiators handle routinely.
• Preserve learnings and creative solutions. TN will be used as a repository of information. By providing links to auxiliary material, including consensus statements, case studies, publications, and even citations to legal statutes and regulations, TN can become a growing resource for the first two goals. As the use of TN increases, the collection of information will document new, emerging or unusual circumstances and possible resources for resolutions.
Problems that are driving TN. At an April 2006 meeting at the National Academies, prominent industry and university leaders indicated that negotiations of sponsored research agreements, particularly disagreements over the treatment of intellectual property (IP) were negatively affecting the entire industry-university research partnership in the United States. This problem threatens to turn U.S. Industry toward research partners abroad. (See the National Science Foundation 2006 report, “Where Has the Money Gone? Declining Industrial Support of Academic R&D.”)
Consensus Statements. The UIDP membership has developed consensus statements on contentious issues that often lead to prolonged negotiations. These statements reflect the best practices of university and industry representatives and continue to evolve. TN will access these statements and offer recommendations based on the statements. Current consensus statements are on: Other Research Results, Background Intellectual Property, Indemnification, Conduct of Research, and Publications.
TN Status:
The mission of the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership is to nourish and expand research collaborations between universities and industry in the United States. The UIDP currently has over 80 member companies and universities.
www.uidp.org uidp@nas.edu
University-Industry Demonstration Partnership
The National Academies 500 Fifth Street NW Washington, DC 20001
Tel: 202-334-3486 Fax: 202-334-1369
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