The Kauffman Foundation (H/T The Scientist) points to the Carolina Express Licensing Agreement (CELA) as an idea worth pursuing at other institutions. As the Foundation outlines in a paper released this week, the CELA was developed in a collaborative effort between University of North Carolina faculty, technology transfer officials, and venture capitalists. A standardized agreement runs counter to advise from the Association of University Technology Managers, which recommends that any technology transfer agreement must be customized due to its unique circumstances. However, digging further into the agreement and the report, I’m not sure the two perspectives are in great conflict with each other.
The focus of the CELA is not on agreements between existing companies and the university, but between the university and faculty seeking to form start-up companies. Some may argue that in the realm of licensing this distinction doesn’t matter that much, but I’d point out that existing companies have the potential to organize in industrial groups and otherwise exert some influence on policymakers to help make sure their interests are given appropriate consideration.
While standardized research agreements allow for parties to come to the table with a clearer understanding of expectations, the conditions for using the CELA may not make it as usable across-the-board. According to the Kauffman paper, use of the CELA is restricted to cases where:
“(1) A UNC faculty, student, or staff is a founder of the company;
(2) All intellectual property rights are owned solely by UNC;
(3) A detailed business plan is reviewed and approved by UNC;
(4) The agreement is executed without modification.”
Those conditions aside, I’d recommend those interested in facilitating university-industry technology transfer to review the paper and the agreement, and see what pieces of it may be useful in your own states and universities. It’s a good faith effort to put in one place best practices for a particular research ecosystem. Borrowing what might work in your neck of the woods seems like a good idea.
Pasco Phronesis 