Specific Collaboration Agreement Between Company and University for the Carrying out Of

SPECIFIC COLLABORATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN COMPANY AND UNIVERSITY FOR THE CARRYING OUT OF AN INDUSTRIAL DOCTORATE PROJECT WITH THE CO-FUNDING TYPE OF FINANCING

Place, date

AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN

Business sphere

Details of company’s signatory

1)

M. / Ms name of partner institution’s legal representative , for and on behalf of company name ('[acronym]'), holder of tax/VAT number [tax/VAT number], whose address is [registered address], who acts as the institution’s legal representative in his/her capacity as [position], pursuant to [public deed or resolution publicising the appointment].

Academic sphere

2)

Details of the university’s signatory

Comments
-  A Catalan system public or private university must always be a signatory to the agreement.
-  The following may participate as a third signatory party:
a)  Academic sphere: a Catalan research centre or hospital foundation.
b)  Business sphere: other companies in which the research project shall be carried out.
When this third party exists, there must be a specific clause appointing a sphere coordinator, which must be a call applicant and beneficiary and which must therefore be the recipient of the sums contemplated in the call and responsible for issuing the associated supporting documentation.
-  In all cases, the eligibility conditions for the business sphere, established in the call terms and conditions, must be taken into account.

WHEREAS

Comments
The purpose of this section is to introduce the different signatories to the Agreement, explain the research lines and, as the case may be, list the different activities that they have carried out (previous research agreements, etc.).
It may also include brief reference to the current terms and conditions of the Industrial Doctorates Plan call, insofar as they establish the minimum content of the Agreement and the public funding associated with the industrial doctorate project.
Lastly, it must be borne in mind that the management of the aid granted is the responsibility of the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), which shall transfer to the sphere (coordinator) on the basis of the project type and pursuant to the terms and conditions, sums for:
-  Academic sphere: Both COF-CAT and COF-UE type of projects: the subsidising of the public prices and duties for enrolment in the doctoral programme, doctorand’s mobility fund, the funding of the research group and indirect costs.
-  Business sphere: only for COF-CAT type of projects: funding of company research project tutoring costs.

By virtue of the above, the parties acknowledge each other’s full powers to act and agree to enter into this agreement, which shall be governed by the following:

CLAUSES

One. Object of the Agreement

The object of this Agreement is to establish the basis of the collaboration between the parties for the carrying out of the 'Project Title', research project and industrial doctorate, whose content is detailed in Annex 1 hereto and which shall be the subject of the chosen researcher’s doctoral thesis. The work plan, approved by the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee, is attached hereto as Annex 2.

Two. Persons responsible for project management

The research project shall be managed by the following persons from the academic and business spheres:

Academic sphere

Contact details

Business sphere

Contact details

Comments
-  The thesis director must be part of an active recognised research group (SGR) of the Government of Catalonia or a researcher from the ICREA programme or be a recipient of European Research Council (ERC) funding.
-  The responsible person from the company need not hold a doctorate.
-  Additionally, if the research project so requires, thesis co-directors and company co-responsible persons may be appointed. The only requirement is that the entity to which said co-director or the company co-responsible person belongs sign the agreement should they receive any kind of funding.

Three. Employment contracts and time allocation

The company shall contract the doctorand as an employee and shall bear the entirety of the labour costs arising from applicable labour regulations, pursuant to the following conditions and details:

Comments
The following must be established:
-  The term of the contract.
-  The remuneration conditions (one of the following two options):
a)  Fixed gross annual remuneration of at least 22,000 euros.
b)  Scaled gross remuneration that, over the course of the project’s three years, totals at least 66,000 euros. In this latter case, the Agreement must place on record the planned annual remuneration.
-  Any other labour-related obligation arising from the carrying out of the project.
Additionally, the type of contract to be signed may be established. Under no circumstances shall the contracting of self-employed persons be accepted.

The doctorand must work exclusively on the research project and must allocate his/her time, approximately, as follows: X% to the company and X% to the university.

These signatories must inform the doctorand of the respective workplace risks and provide him/her with safety training for their facilities. In any case, coordination mechanisms must be established to guarantee compliance with applicable occupational health and safety regulations.

Given that the employment contract is signed between the company and the doctorand, the university is released from any responsibility that may arise from breach of applicable labour regulations by either the company or the employee.

Four. Funding

For the carrying out of the research project, the signatories must assume the following financial obligations:

The business sphere must bear the following expenses:

-  Those arising from the employment of the doctorand, pursuant to the provisions of Clause Three hereto.

-  [...]

The academic sphere must bear the following expenses:

-  Those arising from enrolment in the university’s doctoral programme, out of the aid granted by the Industrial Doctorates Plan call. This aid covers all the expenses listed in the Government of Catalonia’s decree on prices applicable at the time of signing this Agreement.

-  Those arising from the doctorand’s mobility actions, out of the aid granted by the Industrial Doctorates Plan call.

-  [...]

With regard to the provision of the 30 hours of training in cross-cutting business skills, the academic or business sphere must bear the associated expenses as follows: [...]

Comments:
- There is no need to make reference to the public funding contemplated in the terms and conditions of AGAUR’s Industrial Doctorates Plan call, as it shall be the Agency itself that directly transfers the resources to the beneficiary entities and the applicants, pursuant to the relevant resolution.
- It is necessary to allocate and forecast any additional funding required for the ordinary implementation of the project (consumables, equipment, research support staff, etc.).
- Additionally, mention must be made of whether this project has other additional sources of funding for any of the items (e.g. if it forms part of a European project or a project with a wider scope).
- Clause Five, below, establishes who undertakes to provide the training. In this regard, said Clause must specify, if applicable, what funding is associated with its provision.

Five. Obligations of the parties

Obligations of the business sphere

By virtue of its signing this Agreement, the company assumes the following undertakings:

a)  To carry out all administrative measures required for the employment of the doctorand, pursuant to the provisions of Clauses Three and Four hereto.

b)  To guarantee the access of the doctorand to its facilities during the entire duration of the research project and the term of the Agreement, and also that of any academic sphere staff directly involved in the carrying out the project.

c)  To provide business scientific oversight for the project, via the person designated in Clause Two hereto.

d)  To provide the doctorand with all the consumable materials, infrastructure and facilities required for carrying out the duties arising from the research project.

e)  To provide the required occupational health and safety information and training to the doctorand to ensure that he/she may carry out his/her duties under suitably safe conditions within the company’s facilities, and also to those members of university staff who must actively participate in carrying out one or all of the project’s duties at its tasks.

f)  To facilitate any mobility actions (attendance at conferences, seminars, stays at an international company headquarters or an international research group) carried out by the doctorand over the course of the project.

g)  To ensure compliance with the obligations set forth herein.

h)  To assume the financial obligations set forth in Clause Four.

Obligations of the academic sphere

By virtue of its signing this Agreement, the academic sphere assumes the following undertakings:

a)  To appoint a thesis director who meets the requirements of the Industrial Doctorates Plan.

b)  To guarantee the access of the doctorand to its facilities during the entire duration of the research project and term of the Agreement.

c)  To provide the company, under its own responsibility and as required, the necessary information on any person(s) who may require access to the company’s facilities to carry out some project task.

d)  To provide the doctorand with all the consumable materials, infrastructure and facilities required for carrying out the duties arising from the research project.

e)  To facilitate any mobility actions (attendance at conferences, seminars, stays at an international company headquarters or an international research group) carried out by the doctorand over the course of the project.

f)  To ensure compliance with the obligations set forth herein.

g)  To assume the financial obligations set forth in Clause Four.

Comments:
Additionally, mention must be made in this section of:
-  Allocation of the 30 hours of training in cross-cutting business skills to be provided by the university, the company or both institutions jointly. The subject matter must be in line with the areas established in the plan:
a)  R&D&I project and negotiation leadership, coordination and management.
b)  Transfer of research results.
c)  Development of new companies: entrepreneurship, business management, sources of funding.
d)  Patents, industrial and intellectual property.
-  Given that the doctorand is not signing the Agreement, it is not necessary to include a section on the doctorand’s obligations.
-  It should be noted that the doctorand has a mobility fund to carry out a stay at an international headquarters of the company or in an international university or research centre, and to take part in international-scope congresses, conferences and seminars related to the research project.
In this regard, both the academic and the business spheres must facilitate the use of this mobility fund.
Should any stay or conference by contemplated, this may be indicated in the collaboration agreement for information purposes.

Five a). Appointment of academic and business spheres’ coordinators

Comments:
When there are two (or more) entities in one of the spheres (either business or academic), for example:
-  Academic sphere: one university and one research centre.
-  Business sphere: two companies in which the project shall be carried out.
It shall be necessary that said sphere appoints a coordinating entity that shall be responsible for the obligations arising from the Industrial Doctorates Plan call terms and conditions.
This coordinating entity appointed for the academic or the business sphere is that which shall act as the beneficiary for said sphere and which shall, accordingly, receive the aid assigned for said sphere (and be responsible for justifying it).

Six. Project progress monitoring mechanisms

To ensure due monitoring of the progress of the research project, a project monitoring committee must be constituted, comprised of at least the persons responsible for its academic and business management and the doctorand.

This committee must meet, either in person or by computerised means, at least twice a year and may be attended by other persons associated with the project.

This monitoring committee is established on a complementary basis and without prejudices to the academic obligations that, pursuant to applicable regulations governing doctoral studies, must be met by the doctorand before the relevant doctoral programme’s Academic Committee during the drawing up of the doctoral thesis.

In any case, the doctorand shall have a duty to follow all recommendations arising from both the project Monitoring Committee and the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee.

Comments:
The establishment of a research project performance monitoring mechanism is a key part of guaranteeing the achievement of the established business and academic goals.
Example of monitoring clause:
The academic and business spheres undertake to carry out monitoring of the industrial doctorate thesis project based on the submission of the following deliverables:
1) A summary of the status of the research every 6 months.
2) A partial report every 12 months.
3) The thesis report.
Management of these deliverables shall be the responsibility of the thesis director or responsible company technical person, depending upon whether the activities entail duties carried on in the research laboratories of the university or of the company. Except for the final written thesis, the deliverables shall be confidential. Additionally, the thesis director and the doctoral student must meet regularly, at least every X months, to evaluate the project’s progress.
Furthermore, every year, the thesis director, the company supervisor and the PhD candidate must complete a report, using the form supplied by the Government of Catalonia, in which he or she certifies that the activities are following their planned course with regard to the project, as well as a listing of expenses that must be justified to be able to continue receiving aid.

Seven. Publications

When one of the parties wishes to use the partial or final results, in whole or in part, for dissemination or for publishing in an article, speech, etc., it must seek the other party’s agreement in writing. The latter must provide notice of its authorisation or disagreement within 30 days. If this period expires without response, the publication request shall be deemed to be accepted/rejected.

With the company’s prior consent, the doctorand may write articles or publications regarding the project and, given that these may contain information that is confidential or the company’s intellectual property, for the publication or dissemination of the complete or partial results of the research as an article, speech, report, etc., the doctorand must obtain prior express authorisation from the company representative responsible for the project.