Contracts with specific sponsors

Links:
ESA
Euresearch
CTI
NIH
SNSF

Please note:

The elected professor signing a research agreement on behalf of the ETH Zurich is responsible for the compliance with the Research Contract Guidelines and the adherence to the contractual obligations incurred on the part of ETH Zurich.

Topics

1. Contracts with Swiss Federal Offices

2. SNSF projects

3. CTI projects

4. EU projects/ EU Consortium Agreements

5. Contracts with ESA and ESA subcontracts

6. Contracts with the U.S. Federal funding agencies (e.g. NIH, NSF, DOE) 

7. Agreements with US National Laboratories

1. Contracts with Swiss Federal Offices

Contracts with or grants by Swiss Federal Offices involving project costs of CHF 50’000 or more require the approval of the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations. Please forward these contract drafts together with all relevant documentation such as project descriptions, budget, project applications etc. to ETH transfer as soon as possible for a review and in order to obtain the approval signature by the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations. In cases where all intellectual property rights to the project results remain with the ETH Zurich, the overhead contribution of 10 % on the direct project costs is not imposed.

Please note that with Contracts with Swiss Federal Offices often general contract terms apply, such as the „General Terms and Conditions for Service Contracts“, or the „General Terms and Conditions of the Federal Government for Research Contracts“. Please familiarize yourself with such general terms, if applicable. Please always send draft agreements for reviewing to ETH transfer before signature. Please contact the responsible person at ETH transfer in case of any questions in advance.

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2. SNSF projects

Click here for information on how to apply for funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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3. CTI projects

The Swiss Confederation’s Innovation Promotion Agency (CTI) provides funding to research projects of one or more university partners with one or more industrial partners (the “project partners”).

Once a project has been accepted, the CTI concludes a so-called “KTI-Vertrag” (CTI contract) with all project partners involved. This contract can be signed by the elected ETH-professor on behalf of ETH Zurich. In Art. 5 of this CTI contract, the CTI requires the involved project partners to sign a further agreement, a “KTI-Zusatzvertrag” (CTI supplementary contract), among the project partners which governs the rights and duties of the project partners with regard to confidentiality, publication, and intellectual property rights. Please bear in mind that the CTI-supplementary contract is normally to be signed prior to the official start of the project, if possible, but in any case no later than 3 months after the starting date. Along with the signature of the elected ETH-professor who is in charge of the project, the CTI supplementary contract must also be approved and signed by the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations. To obtain the necessary approval, it is crucial that you send, once project approval by the CTI is likely, all documentation with regard to your CTI project (CTI application and if available the approval letter from CTI and the CTI contract) to ETH transfer for support in the negotiation process for the CTI supplementary contract, so that the interests of ETH Zurich can best be safeguarded. Once an agreement has been found, ETH transfer will forward the CTI supplementary contract to the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations for signature.

Usually, the industrial partner in the CTI project who acts as main financing partner in the application to CTI, will receive the exclusive commercialization rights for intellectual property generated within the project (project IP) in his specific field of use. Outside that field of use, the right to use such project IP is typically retained by the university. In return for the granting of the exclusive commercialization rights in his field of use, the main financing partner covers all related patenting costs and pays a reasonable compensation to the university. All other project partners shall receive the right to use project IP as needed.

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4. EU projects/ EU Consortium Agreements

Please contact Euresearch Zurich in all matters related to EU projects.

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5. Contracts with ESA and ESA subcontracts

To obtain the required approval by the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations for ESA related contracts, please send all relevant documents to ETH transfer. Here, they will be reviewed and, if approved, forwarded to the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations for signature. For questions regarding project applications to ESA , please contact Euresearch Zurich.

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6. Contracts with the U.S. Funding Agencies (e.g. NIH, NSF, DOE)

To obtain the required approval by the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations for contracts in connection with U.S. Federal Funding Agencies, please send all relevant documents to ETH transfer. Here, they will be reviewed and – if approved - forwarded to the Vice President Research and Corporate Relations for signature.

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7. Agreements with US National Laboratories (e.g. Argonne National Lab (ANL), Brookhaven National Lab, SLAC National Accelerator Lab, EMSL: Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab)

Various US National Laboratories require researchers to sign a „Non-Proprietary User Agreement“ if they want to have access to their infrastructure. ETH Zurich has signed general agreements with some of the laboratories, but each researcher still has to sign an individual agreement before getting access. Please contact ETH transfer.

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