University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health investigators enter into many types of research relationships with industry. These relationships are governed by agreements made between the university and the company. Agreements are legal contracts that define each party’s rights and obligations in the relationship.
The primary types of research relationships are listed below, along with guidance for university investigators and department administrative personnel on putting these relationships into place. A number of agreement forms are posted on the Forms page on the RSP website.
Awards and agreements are funding mechanisms that allow for the transfer of funds between organizations. See agreement processing
A checklist is included as reference that should be routinely used by departmental administrators preparing materials for submission.
Industry Engagement
This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.
Sponsored Research Agreements
Agreements that cover research of mutual interest to a UW investigator and a company, and that the sponsoring company funds, in whole or in part.
Collaboration Agreements
Agreements that cover a research project in which both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the company collaboratively conduct, each financially supporting their own work on the project.
Material Transfer Agreements
Agreements that cover the transfer of research materials into or out of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, but involve no funding (included here are MTAs from other academic institutions as well as from industry).
Fee for Service Agreements
Agreements that cover work consisting of the execution of a predefined or repetitive process, or the production of a product that meets predefined specifications. The activity is not expected to add to the body of fundamental knowledge in a given field, and is therefore not considered research in the academic sense.
Confidentiality Agreements
Agreements that cover the transfer of confidential information between the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and industry.
Consulting Agreements
Agreements entered into by UW-Madison employees and industry to govern off-campus consulting. The university does not sign these agreements.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are biomedical or behavioral research studies in which the safety, pharmacokinetics or therapeutic effect of an intervention, or the effectiveness of a diagnostic procedure, is being evaluated.
Gifts from Industry
No-strings-attached funding provided by industry for research or educational purposes.
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer
Agreements with companies that govern UW’s involvement in SBIR and STTR grants awarded by the federal government to the company.
Other Agreements
A variety of other types of agreements may govern university-industry relationships, including:
- Data use agreements
- Software transfer agreements
- Equipment evaluation agreements
- Industry grant programs
- Industry-sponsored fellowships
- UW-Madison Industrial and Economic Development Research (I&EDR) grants
- UW-Madison Robert Draper Technology Innovation Fund (TIF) grants
Contact Information
Kurt J. Zimmerman, MS
Director
Office of Industry Engagement
(608) 262-0685
kjzimmerman@wisc.edu
Andy Chen, JD
Contracts Specialist
(608) 265-8969
ichen23@wisc.edu
Richelle Martin, JD
(608) 890-4708
richelle.martin@wisc.edu
Office of Industrial Partnerships (OIP)