The Higher Education Research Commercialisation (HERC) Intellectual Property (IP) Framework provides a clear pathway through the complexity of universities working with industry partners.
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The Higher Education Research Commercialisation (HERC) Intellectual Property (IP) Framework provides a clear pathway through the complexity of universities working with industry partners.
The HERC IP Framework outlines the most common activities where universities and industry partners (the parties) work together to access research expertise and collaborate to commercialise IP, including:
- Collaborative research – when the parties are working together to develop new technology solutions or solve a research problem
- Accessing technical (consulting) services and equipment – when an industry partner wishes to access a technical (consulting) service using existing expertise at the university or equipment for its own research activities
- Licensing IP – when a university has developed IP (either from its own research or in a research collaboration with the industry partner) and the industry partner wishes to access rights for its own internal use or commercial purposes (including selling products and services)
- Buying & selling IP – when one party agrees to sell its IP to another party
The Framework also provides agreement templates for parties to consider and use as a starting point. Each template agreement is accompanied by an annotated version of the template with a plain English guide explaining the key legal terms. The agreements are government-endorsed and have been drafted through extensive consultation with Public Funded Research Agencies, Commonwealth Agencies, universities and commercial companies. They provide for a fair position for both parties.
To recognise that different projects represent different levels of complexity and risk, the Framework provides agreements in two tracks:
- Accelerated templates for lower-risk transactions, which can be used with minimal negotiation
- Standard templates for more complex (including multi-party), higher risk projects that are not suitable for the Accelerated templates. These provide greater flexibility to cater for different scenarios
1.1 - Where should I start?
| To understand the general principles behind the HERC IP Framework’s approach, read about what to consider before you start, please see Section 2: General Principles |
| To confirm what you are trying to achieve, and which agreement(s) may be appropriate, please review the guidance on the different routes to work together in Section 3: How do you want to work together? |
| If you already know what type of agreement you need, please go directly to Section 5: Individual Template Guides |
1.2 - Do I have to use the Framework?
Use of the HERC IP Framework is presently voluntary. Further guidance on any future obligations to use the Framework and its applicability for relevant funding programs will be provided in due course.
A Glossary of Terms is provided as a reference to key terms used in the guidance.