EquIP

EquIP at Northwestern equips industry partners with a streamlined approach to intellectual property (IP) in sponsored research agreements.

Northwestern University has a history of collaboration with industry in support of research that is consonant with our missions of teaching, research, and public service.  For more about building successful university-industry partnerships, see Northwestern Corporate Engagement's Corporate Partnership Process Guide, as well as the Sponsored Research office guide for industry.

For industry sponsored research at Northwestern, multiple options are available with respect to establishing nonexclusive or exclusive licensing rights to IP created through industry sponsorship at Northwestern. Please review the Northwestern EquIP options here.

Northwestern’s Standard Terms

Industry sponsors receive a non-exclusive royalty-free license to use IP developed during the term of the sponsored project (Foreground IP) for non-commercial research and development purposes.  When sponsors pay for patenting costs, they can receive an option to negotiate a non-exclusive or exclusive license to that IP.  These terms may be recommended by Northwestern for more exploratory projects.

Northwestern’s Pre-negotiated Terms

To streamline negotiations, the University may recommend at the initial stages of discussing the sponsored research project, one of the following pre-negotiated terms for IP.  These pre-negotiated terms are incorporated into the sponsored research agreement.  Upon execution of the agreement, the sponsor pays the project amount due in addition to the upfront fee.  During the course of the project, Northwestern will notify the sponsor of Foreground IP and the sponsor may request Northwestern to file patents at the sponsor’s expense.