Transcript PowerPoint-presentasjon

IST Projects – what’s in it for us
Rolf B Haugen
Chief of research
Telenor R&D
Items to be covered:
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Expectations about participation
– Results
– Economy
– Network
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Project economy
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Value of IPR
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Steps in the process from idea to project start
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Experience from some years of participation
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Telenor participation in EU’s FPs
History I
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Race I:
Handful of projects
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Race II:
Same as Race II
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ACTS:
25 projects
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IST:
23 projects
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6FP:
12 projects from call 1
Income from EU:
Typically 15 mill NOK/year from ACTS & IST
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History II
Initially:
Telenor: No ambition to take a leading part in EU-projects, but
• Became main contributor in some projects,
• Asked to be coordinator for following-up projects
Telenor coordinators:
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ACTS: 3
IST: 2
FP6: 2 (1. call, increasing ambition in becoming coordinator)
Yield in project acceptance:
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ACTS, IST: 25% in 1. call, increasing to > 50% in next calls
FP6: 45% in 1. call
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Why participate?
Multiple arguments:
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More for ‘money’: 1 Telenor man-year gives > 10 manyears back
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Cannot invent everything ourselves, need impulses
and ideas from outside
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May influence new system and network design, (prestandardization, re UMTS)
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Network building; part of European research networks
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Competition: Quality assurance of our R&D
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Funding from EU
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Strategy for participating
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Important to link participation in EU-projects to internal
strategy plan; i.e. do not participate for the mere sake of
participating or for the EU funding
Important to encourage the individual researchers to take
initiatives
Try to make a continuity plan for participation in EUprojects; i.e. avoid making a one-time stunt, but
Do not overdo the continuation, a project consortium might
turn into a social club that wants to continue for the sake of
continuing.
Important to join the ‘right’ consortium, in particular to avoid
sleeping partners. (However, difficult to tell in before hand!)
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Project continuation: Examples from Telenor
ACTS
IST
Broadband radio
CRABS
EMBRACE
MPEG-related work
Custom-TV
SAMBIT
User perception
Vis-à-Vis
Eye-2-Eye
Techno-Economics
Optimum->Tera
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Tonic
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Economical Aspects
EU covers (up to)
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50% of project cost and
(in FP6) 100% of administrative cost (limited to 7% of EUcontribution)
But be aware of cost before project starts:
Telenor figures:
Proposal preparation phase:
Active in project proposal:
900 - 1100
‘Passive’ in project proposal: 300 – 400
person-hours
person-hours
Negotiation phase (after evaluation): 200 person hours
Support from Norwegian Research Council: ~20%
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IPR and Legal Aspects:
Personal experiences
We are (basically) faced with 3 types of contracts:
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Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
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Consortium Agreement (CA)
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Contract with EU Commission (Model Contract)
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Model Contract
Contract between the Commission and the project.
Regulates:
• The technical content of the project (Annex 1)
• The general legal conditions for the project (Annex 2)
Experiences:
• Takes some effort to get all details straight
• Certain amount of bureaucracy
• No real difficulties
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Consortium Agreement
CA is based on the Model Contract, but specifies:
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Relations and responsibilities between the parties
Organizing and financing of the project
IPR-questions (based on EU's general policy)
Experiences:
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IPR states the right to use results from projects, normally
free of cost. Has been OK for Telenor.
In FP6 more freedom to the Consortium, might affect IPR
‘Have made right’ has created lots of discussions, Telenor
prefer to keep that paragraph out.
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Have made right
Basically, this paragraph gives the partners in a
consortium preference to produce whatever is developed
in a project.
However, not all partners in a consortium are manufacturers,
hence a non-manufacturer partner (e.g. teleoperator) with
considerable IPR (owner rights) might want independent
manufacturer to produce the product.
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Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
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NDA is set up by the start of the project proposal phase;
i.e. before the proposal is submitted
NDA has become increasingly common the last few
years.
Purpose
– to keep sensitive information confidential within the
consortium
– prevent partners to engage in competing proposals
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Pitfalls with NDA
Competing proposals:
Parties agree that simultaneous participation in directly
competing proposals to X, submitted to the same
Strategic Objectives of the 6FP, shall not be permitted
Question:
Where to draw the line between competing and noncompeting proposals?
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Pitfalls II
Confidentiality:
Lots of strange formulations:
The receiving Party may use, subject to valid patents (etc),
concepts and know-how contained in the Discloser’s
Information and retained in the unaided memories of
receiving Party’s Agreement, provided the confidentiality
of the CONFIDENT INFORMATION shall be maintained
as stated herein. Memory is considered unaided if the
Confidential Information has not been intentionally memorized
for the purpose of retaining and subsequently using it
otherwise than for the PURPOSE.
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Pitfalls III
Refusals:
Each Party shall have the right to refuse to accept any
information under this Agreement prior to any disclosure;
information disclosed despite such a refusal is not
covered by the confidentiality is not covered by the
confidentiality obligation under this Agreement
Question:
How to refuse confidential information and at the same
time contribute to the project proposal?
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Pitfall IV
Retention of archival copy:
Some parties want back all copies of confidential
document at the end of the collaboration.
Depending on the actual Agreement, many parties protest
to this, because they need a copy in case of possible later
disputes that may end up in court.
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Check list for NDAs
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Insist that confidential information shall be clearly stated,
no matter whether written, oral or visually
Duration of the agreement and the confidentiality: Make
sure there is a time-limit of both the agreement and the
confidentiality
Avoid the
– refusal clause
– unaided memory
– (possibly) competing proposals
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Open for withdrawal of the consortium in proposal phase
and no obligation to sign the Model Contract
Insist on keeping an archival copy
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Final pitfall!
When confronting the originator of a NDA with the points
in the check list, you will often get the answer that
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You are the only one not to have sign it!
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It is a standard contract!
Do not believe it!
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Summary
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Worth while to engage in EU-projects, but
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Do not go for the sake of EU-funding!
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IPR and confidentiality-related questions are getting more into
focus due to
– increasing competition between the partners
– more freedom to the consortia
– less ‘micro control from the Commission
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Take the IPR book-keeping seriously
– protect your background (pre-existing) rights
– define work packages to harmonize with IPR ownership
– get a clear understanding/agreement of mutual ownership
• Take a critical look at the proposed NDA before signing
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