Office of Commercialization and Industry Engagement

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Information for Researchers

Learn about the agreements that support Dalhousie-industry partnerships.

This section covers:

  • An overview of the partnership agreements that support university-industry collaborations.

  • An overview of the partnership agreements that support technology transfer.

  • Detailed descriptions of the processes and timelines involved in the creation of each partnership agreement.

  • Downloads for related templates/forms.

  • Related university policies.

Partnership Agreements

The agreements that support tech transfer, commercialization, and university-industry partnerships include:

  1. Standard Form Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDAs)
    Review the process and access downloads here. 

    A contract used to establish a confidential relationship between all parties. Confidential conversations are often an important pre-cursor to a potential partnership. An NDA enables those who participate in the conversation to freely share information.

  2. Research Collaboration Agreement
    Review the process and access downloads here. 

    A contract that formalizes a research partnership between a Dalhousie researcher and an industry partner. Discovery-based research activity and its associated intellectual property is central to achieving the goal of the partnership.

  3. Service Agreement
    Review the process and access downloads here. 

    A service agreement is used when a company pays for the services of a university facility. The industry partner defines the scope of work. There is no generation of intellectual property (IP), i.e., the activity outlined in the service agreement normally will not yield data or a discovery that could be publishable.

  4. Intellectual Property Transfer Agreements (ITPAs)
    Review the process and access downloads here.

    There are two IPTAs. The traditional IPTA is an agreeement used when a researcher decides to assign the IP of an invention to the university for the purposes of patenting, technology transfer, and commercialization. The IPTA for Spinoffs is an agreement used when a researcher wishes to have a startup commercialize their invention.

  5. License Agreement
    Review the process and access downloads here.

    Used in cases of tech transfer and commercialization, this contract grants an industry partner a license (exclusive or non-exclusive) to use Dalhousie-owned IP under negotiated terms & conditions.

Related University Policies and Other Resources 


Intellectual Property Policy

  • Generally speaking, the university operates on a creator-owned IP practice* which allows researchers to decide whether or not to assign IP to the university or maintain full ownership rights themselves. *An official university IP policy is expected by the end of the 2020/2021 academic year.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Service Agreement Guidelines