Engaging Commercial Partners
UCSF engages with external commercial partners in varied ways, tailoring each relationship with our partners to best suit their needs.
Early access to UCSF’s translational and platform technology programs is typically realized through sponsored research agreements, and sourcing the right projects might occur in one of four ways:
Scientist-to-Scientist
A company may reach out to a faculty member directly to discuss possible collaborations, whether this is initiated at a scientific conference, by email, a mutual contact, research on UCSF Profiles, or otherwise. Before digging deeper into the details of the sponsored research, the PI will need to reach out to UCSF Innovation Ventures to get a confidential disclosure agreement put in place. UCSF Innovation Ventures will also work with the company to negotiate all contractual and IP terms before the research can begin. If UCSF has a close prior relationship with your company, this process will move more quickly, and we can also discuss ways to streamline future agreements if funding/collaborating on more projects at UCSF is anticipated or desired.
UCSF’s Office of Strategic Alliances
Industry partners often come directly to UCSF Innovation Ventures to discuss their interests in funding research or licensing IP in their areas of interest. With that partner’s scientific collaboration interests in mind, the Office of Strategic Alliances will identify and match suitable projects and faculty whose research may be a good fit. Hosting members of your team at UCSF for a faculty roundtable or producing a day-long symposium at UCSF to highlight research in a particular area are great options to facilitate a company’s engagement with the exciting research at UCSF. If you are looking to partner with UCSF please contact [email protected] in the Office of Strategic Alliances.
Licensing a UCSF Technology
When companies or other entities decide to license a UCSF technology, our Office of Technology Management can also help that company explore further collaboration with the UCSF faculty inventors. Additional pre-clinical experiments to mature the technology are often the focus of these collaborations and can be a productive way to engage with a faculty member who might have other active early research in that space. For licensing opportunities and associated collaborations, please contact [email protected] or [email protected] in the Office of Technology Management.
UCSF's Catalyst Program
Our Catalyst Program supports the early development of therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and digital health at UCSF. Catalyst aims to build innovative collaboration models that are mutually beneficial for UCSF researchers and industry partners. Catalyst partners achieve significant access to early technology development proposals and build relationships with UCSF's innovative faculty, while enjoying dedicated alliance management and business development support to work strategically with you to identify/transact opportunities areas of interest. Please contract [email protected] to learn more about how your company can become a Catalyst partner.
Common Questions:
Our industry partnerships utilize sponsored research agreements (SRAs) to fund research at UCSF. SRAs can stand alone as the sole contract for a partnering agreement, but, increasingly, our industry partners utilize 'master' or 'template' agreements with UCSF that have certain pre-negotiated terms under which multiple SRAs can be executed quickly. UCSF Innovation Ventures is experienced in developing and negotiating agreements with our industry counterparts, and we work closely with our partners to ensure success.
SRAs are the agreement whereby an industry sponsor funds a specific research project for a defined time period and in return receives certain deliverables such as research data, reports, and certain rights to intellectual and tangible property. Sometimes, the industry partner will also participate intellectually and contribute materials, conduct experiments, etc., resulting in a highly collaborative project that may result in Joint IP.
After identifying a faculty member or project of interest for collaboration, you will work with Innovation Ventures and the faculty member to proceed to a signed agreement via the following steps. Alternatively, you may reach out to Innovation Ventures for assistance in discovering the research and projects at UCSF of interest to you.
- Reach out to UCSF Innovation Ventures at [email protected] indicating your interest in a collaboration agreement. Your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate contact, who will then reach out and work with you on the following steps.
- Sign a confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) to enable more detailed scientific discussion
- Refine the research plan, scope, timeline, and budget
- Contract and budget negotiation, which will be completed in collaboration with the Office of Technology Management and the UCSF Industry Contracts Division
- Final contract execution
- If applicable, UCSF’s Contracts, Grants, and Accounting Department will handle payment invoicing unless the industry sponsor arranged for alliance management support from UCSF.
Typically, it is our most active industry sponsors that greatly benefit from alliance support, which might include sourcing a customized portfolio of research opportunities, facilitating communication with UCSF labs, and managing the operational aspects of ongoing SRAs. All aspects of alliance management, along with business development efforts, are coordinated out of the Office of Strategic Alliances.