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Industrial
Affiliates Program
Under an industrial
affiliates program, participants join in the support of an identified
area of research for a stated period of time, with each participant receiving
the same benefits from membership in the program. The benefits to be derived
from such membership may include early access to technical information,
participation in technical meetings, presentations, and access to the
best and most productive graduate students as perspective employees. Income
from the program may not be used to benefit a single affiliate
but should be applied to advance the general field of knowledge.
To establish an affiliates program,
please follow the below steps:
1. Read the procedure
OVPR
01-03.
2. Contact the Director of the Office of
Sponsored Programs indicating your desire to establish a program.
3. Develop an affiliates agreement (Sponsored Programs can assist).
4. Recruit affiliate members.
5. Execute agreements with affiliate members.
Example
of an Approved Industrial Affiliates Program
Industrial Affiliates FAQs
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1. What is required
to establish an industrial affiliates program?
Many affiliate programs are created out of demand by the industrial partners
to transcend the traditional principal investigator / sponsor relationship with
the hopes of establishing and developing long-term symbiotic relationships with
the university. Access to top-rate faculty and potential employees (graduate
students) is a primary motivation for industrial participation. For an annual
fee, affiliates remain abreast of the cutting edge research within a general
field of interest.
2. Is there
a minimum number of affiliates required prior to initiating an affiliates program?
Affiliate programs are approved on the basis that multiple
affiliates will be recruited and signed. The Office of the Vice President for
Research will work with new programs to allow time for the recruitment of multiple
affiliates. Please keep note that the affiliates program is not a substitute
for sponsored research contracts.
3. Who is responsible
for reviewing and approving affiliate membership agreements?
The Office of the Vice President for Research retains responsibility
for the approval and review of affiliate programs. A new request for the establishment
of an affiliate program will be reviewed to ensure that there are not conflicts
with on-going research agreements and that the requested program adheres to
the guiding principles as set forth in OVPR procedure 01-03.
4. What restrictions
are there on the use of affiliate fees?
Affiliate fees are deposited in the Virginia Tech Foundation and
are restricted only in the sense that the monies be used to support the affiliates
program as set forth in the approved affiliates agreement. This may include
the support of graduate students, conference proceedings, meetings, etc..
5. Who handles
the deposit and administration of affiliate fees?
Once an agreement has been approved, the initiating unit overseeing the affiliate
program should forward the agreements to the participating members requesting
their signature and payment of the affiliate fee. Upon receipt of the fee, please
use the General Research Funding Deposit Approval Form
to deposit the funds into your affiliate account in the Virginia Tech Foundation.
If the program is new, the Virginia Tech Foundation may require copies of the
approved affiliate agreements.
6. What if an affiliate
member requests proprietary research, testing, or consulting services?
An industrial affiliate is not entitled to specify the protocol to be used
in the conduct of a specific research effort. However, membership may entitle
an affiliate to request the inclusion of its products or processes in the research
activities. Affiliate fees should never be used to consult, test, or provide
dedicated research for a particular affiliate member. If a member requests work
of such nature, a sponsored contract will need to be developed.
7. What if an affiliate
member desires intellectual property rights?
Affiliates requesting specific intellectual property rights will receive
only those rights and options as allowed by the approved affiliate membership
agreement.
8. Can graduate students
work directly for an affiliate member?
No, graduate student involvement is limited to supporting the research for
the entire affiliate membership and not one particular affiliate.
9. What publication
restrictions are allowed?
Affiliate agreements in general do not allow for any publication restrictions
on the research being funded on behalf of the affiliates. However, affiliate sponsored
proceedings and results may be limited for specific period of time to the affiliate
members but must ultimately be made available to the general public. Some affiliate
programs provide affiliate members with a first look at results prior to publishing
in academic journals. However, this first look should never preclude a publication.
10. What happens
if I cannot attract or retain a core of affiliates?
The Office of the Vice President for Research will work with you to allow appropriate
time for recruiting affiliate members. We realize that affiliates will join
at different times. However, we reserve the right to review approved programs
to ensure that there is a sufficient number of affiliates to warrant the continuation
of the affiliates program. We will remain sensitive that an affiliate program
is not for the sole benefit of a few.
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