Once a company makes a decision to initiate a research collaboration with Tsinghua University, there are two main approaches:

  •    The company can directly contact Tsinghua faculty, and begin to discuss, develop and draft a research collaboration proposal

  •    The company can contact the staff of the Overseas R&D Management Office, and based on the research collaboration interests of  the company, our staff will help the company to locate suitable experts within Tsinghua University and identify university resources to support the research collaboration.

 

Once a research collaboration proposal is agreed by the company and one or more members of the Tsinghua faculty, a research collaboration contract or agreement may be established according to the following steps:

 

1)        The university faculty member forwards the research collaboration proposal to the Dean or Head of his/her School or Department in order to get their approval of the collaboration.

2)        Either the company or the university faculty prepares a draft of the research collaboration contract and/or agreement.

3)        The university faculty forwards the contract and/or agreement to the Overseas R&D Management Office for review.

4)        The staff of the overseas R&D Management Office initiates a negotiation on the clauses of the contract and/or agreement with the company.  During the negotiation, the following issues typically require attention from both parties:

  

　　•    Ownership and allocation of the intellectual property rights; 

　　•    Publication rights

　　•   Handling of confidential information

　　•    Warranty

　　•    Indemnification

 

5)        The Overseas R&D Management Office, together with the Tinghua University faculty and representatives from the company finalize the text of the contract and/or agreement.

6)        The Director of the Overseas R&D Management Office signs the contract and/or agreement as a formal approval on behalf of Tsinghua University.