21 May Joint development

Co-development (joint development) is one of the ways in which the National Institute for Nuclear Physics can interact with businesses to leverage its expertise and technologies.

What is co-development?

The necessary condition for a project to be considered co-development is that at least two organizations contribute in a balanced way to the activities, using their own personnel and equipment resources to create something new, which may be a device, a process or, more generally, a technology.

Co-development can occur within a standard research project as well as within a contract. What matters is that achieving the result requires deploying the complementary skills and resources of all partners.

Examples of co-development

In the reality of technology transfer, typical cases of co-development are those in which a technology generated within the Institute, and possibly tested and validated in the laboratory, needs additional work to increase its technology readiness level (TRL) and thus be used in fields other than research. Reaching high TRLs and the subsequent market launch of a new technology are beyond the scope of the INFN; therefore, it is necessary to involve a company that, working alongside research staff, actively commits to taking the necessary steps to transform the technology into a product.

In co-development, therefore, INFN and the company work together toward a common goal, which constitutes the object of the activity, but with different purposes. For INFN, the aim is to develop its own technologies, primarily for research purposes, while the company is interested in including that technology in its portfolio of products and services or using it to improve its own processes.

Every co-development project has its own story and can be initiated by either INFN or the company. Very often, to upgrade research infrastructure, the Institute requires technologies that are not commercially available: there are no companies capable of meeting that demand, and any supply must be preceded by co-development work in which the desired product is designed together.

A similar, though opposite, scenario occurs when a company approaches INFN to solve a technological challenge that enables new products, which the Institute may or may not benefit from for its own experimental research activities.

Intellectual property in co-development

Before starting a co-development project, it is advisable to regulate the expected access rights to the results. What does the company want to do with them? What rights must be guaranteed to the public research institution?

Whatever the distribution of ownership shares, it is essential that the Institute is guaranteed the possibility to use the outcomes of the co-development free of charge and without time limits for research and teaching purposes. On the other hand, the company is keen to have as much freedom of action as possible for its production and sales strategies, generally with an acknowledgment of authorship and/or financial compensation to the research partner.

A co-development project can be regulated by specific agreements that, in a preliminary phase, govern operational and legal aspects to avoid conflicts during the process. The Technology Transfer Office is responsible for drafting such agreements and can be contacted for any clarifications (tto@lists.infn.it).

INFN TT measures supporting co-development

In order to promote knowledge transfer and the market outlet for technologies with INFN contribution, the National Committee for Technology Transfer has launched INFN CONNECT, the new initiative to fund technological development projects in collaboration with businesses. This measure replaces the previous Research For Innovation (R4I), placing greater focus on the direct involvement of companies from the early stages of the project. The initiative is divided into two phases: in the first, Institute staff can submit proposals, while in the second, expressions of interest for specific technological developments will be acquired from companies. From the meeting of INFN’s needs and interests with those of the companies, co-development projects will be funded to bring research results to the market for the benefit of society.

For more information on INFN CONNECT

you can read the launch news here
or consult the dedicated page on the INFN TT website