Argonne National Laboratory

How Industry Can Work with Argonne

Argonne has many types of contractual agreements to meet the needs and interests of industry, state and local governments, federal agencies and other organizations. The following are brief descriptions of the types of agreements most commonly used in technology transfer. Argonne does not compete with private industry and will not accept work that can be performed by commercial sources.

• Nondisclosure Agreements -- Argonne uses nondisclosure agreements to protect a company's proprietary information while it is in Argonne's possession. Nondisclosure agreements are also used to enable Argonne to provide companies with Argonne information considered confidential.

• Material Transfer Agreements -- Often, materials produced by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory are of interest to the private sector. Depending on the circumstances under which the mareial was developed such material may be transferred to industry for a number of reasons (e.g., testing, feasibility studies, etc.). This transfer is usually temporary and can initiate a more formal working arrangement. At this time, TDC, in conjunction with Argonne's Legal Department, provides such agreements on an as-needed basis.

• Licensing Agreements -- Argonne's licensing program provides companies with opportunities to acquire rights in Argonne inventions and copyrights. Licenses may be nonexclusive or exclusive, depending on the nature of the intellectual property and the business fields to be actively pursued by the licensee.

• Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) -- Cost-shared R&D, where funds are provided by both the partner and Argonne, is usually conducted under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA).

• Sponsored Research -- "Sponsored Research" (WFO) is our term for R&D transactions, where costs are paid entirely by an organization, such as a company or federal agency, and the work is conducted by Argonne.

• Technical Services -- Argonne staff can provide short-term technical assistance to organizations with technical problems requiring expertise that is not available commercially. Technical assistance efforts may not involve research and development. The cost to the organization is the full cost of the Laboratory's effort. If the proposed activity is well defined, a Technical Service Agreement generally can be executed within five to ten working days.

• Using Argonne's Scientific and Technical Facilities -- Argonne designs, builds and operates sophisticated research facilities that would be too expensive for a single organization to build and operate. There are a number of ways industry can gain access to these facilities.

• SBIR/STTR -- Argonne does not provide funding to companies for research and development. Some federal and state programs do, however, and companies may use such funding to do R&D with Argonne.

For more information contact:

Argonne's Technology Development and Commercialization (800-627-2596)