New Technology Transfer contract template

Special features of knowledge transmission

‘Science is the soul of the prosperity of nations and the living source of progress’. These words from Louis Pasteur summarize which is and should be the main engine of scientific and technological knowledge: to serve society. Applied research allows obtaining social, economic and business benefits from generated knowledge.

In this field, Technology Transfer gains great relevance since it seeks to obtain a commercial performance from R&D&I knowledge and results. This kind of transactions is built over contractual relations that obviously should take into account the special features of knowledge transmission, considering that once transferred it is quite difficult to go backwards. For this reason, information or knowledge transmitter should take the utmost cautions feasible and study carefully all possible legal and economic consequences of it.

In 2015 a multidisciplinary working group was created meaning to dispel any doubt that this type of deal could raise and to support the work accomplished by universities, researching public bodies and Spanish SMEs. The group, coordinated by the SPTO and formed by representatives of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), LES Spain and Portugal (LES), the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINEICO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is responsible for developing reference templates for the different types of contracts.

The first Contract Templates drafted by the group have been those for Confidenciality and Transferring Material, followed by Patent and Utility Model License, in two modalities: on the one hand between public bodies and companies and on the other between companies.

The task continues and now arrives the Research and Development Contract Template between public bodies and companies. All these templates are available at the Technology Transfer section of our website, both in English and Spanish, together with an illustrative usage guide. Do not forget to consult them!