Research and Development

It is good practice to have a collaboration agreement in place when you work with another business on a research and development (“R&D”) project. Companies will often undertake R&D to support the development of a new product or service, or to facilitate improvements to an existing one. 

Research and development

A collaboration contract removes any ambiguity over the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in the R&D. Additionally, the ownership of any intellectual property gained as a result of the research will be clear and will lessen the likelihood of a disagreement. This becomes more important where the R&D activities are outsourced to a consulting company and the contract will mirror certain aspects of a manufacturing agreement.

The contract should cover items including:

• The length of the contract
• The parameters of the research topic
• The ownership of the research

Creating an innovative environment is incredibly important to our clients, especially those working in the technology industry where advances are made every day. Therefore, it’s important that the R&D contracts they use are fit for purpose and have enough scope for research to be shared and utilised.  

We draft and prepare R&D contracts for clients across several sectors including manufacturing, IT and technology and life sciences, ensuring the contracts are robust and will support clients achieve their goals.