Projects requiring collaboration agreements
For all projects involving partners, the Project Owner is required to sign collaboration agreements with the relevant partners by at the latest three months after receiving the contract documents from the Research Council.
Collaborating partners are defined in the General Terms and Conditions as "those who, in accordance with the agreement document, are to carry out the project in collaboration with the project manager". A partner must carry out the R&D project in actual collaboration with the project manager and other potential partners. Such collaboration is characterized by the parties exchanging knowledge or technology to achieve a common goal on the basis of division of labour in the project. The project manager and partners jointly define the scope of the project, contribute to its implementation and share risks and results. The project manager and partners shall agree on the distribution of rights and obligations related to project implementation and project results in a collaboration agreement.
An R&D supplier in the project is an organization that delivers R&D services on behalf of the project manager and/or other partners in the project. An R&D provider can be a research organization, company or other company that provides R&D services.
An R&D supplier has tasks that are important for the project to be carried out, such as responsibility for a significant R&D activity or work package in the project. It is the project manager and/or partners in the project who enter into an agreement/contract with R&D suppliers.
Because the role of R&D suppliers in the project is important and is included in the assessment of the application, the Research Council must approve any changes of R&D suppliers in approved projects.
Collaborators and R&D suppliers are registered in the same place in the application form and are therefore listed in the contract together under "partners". The content of an agreement with an R&D supplier will deviate from an agreement between the project manager and partners, but the Research Council refers to both forms as a collaboration agreement.
Partners are institutions, companies and other entities that the Research Council’s contract stipulates are under obligation to provide professional or financial resources for the implementation of the project. The partners may be represented by designated individuals.
The collaboration agreements are to regulate the reciprocal rights and obligations of the Project Owner and partners in the project. The Project Owner is required to sign written agreements with Norwegian and international partners alike.
The parties are to draw up the agreements themselves
It is up to the parties themselves to determine the appropriate format for and content of the collaboration agreement for the specific partners and project. To help with this, the Research Council has drawn up some sample collaboration agreements to use as a starting point.
- Collaboration Agreement without IPR Provisions (updated 2024) (docx)
- Collaboration agreement - with IPR provisions (Updated 2024) (docx)
- Template for Consortium Agreements (docx)
- Centres for Research-based Innovation (SFI) – Template for Consortium Agreements (docx)
- Collaboration Agreement for Innovation Projects in the Petroleum Sector (docx)
- Collaboration Agreement for Knowledge-building Projects in the Petroleum Sector (Updated August2024) (docx).
Three-month deadline
Collaboration agreements must be signed and submitted via “My RCN web” by at the latest three months after the Research Council has sent the contract to the Project Owner. The Research Council will not disburse any project funding until the collaboration agreements are in place.
Changes in the partners
The expertise and participation of the partners are important factors when assessing project quality, and may have played a key role in the decision to grant funding to the project. The Research Council considers the partners to be so essential to the project’s implementation that we must be notified and give our consent before any changes in the partners may be effectuated.
Messages at time of print 26 December 2024, 13:25 CET