Agreements for Mitacs Funding at UBC

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has supported research-based innovation for more than 20 years. Mitacs programs provide opportunities for UBC graduate students and trainees to collaborate with industry, non-profit and government partners on ‘real world’ problems and innovation challenges. Partners get valuable access to research expertise and high-quality personnel in addressing these issues.

In 2019/20, UBC engaged in more than 400 distinct research projects supported by Mitacs funding, with a combined budget of more than $13m. Typical Mitacs projects see partner cash contributions matched by Mitacs.

Read more about some of the UBC collaborations supported by Mitacs

Establishing a Mitacs Project

Projects for Mitacs programs are generally co-developed by external partners in collaboration with UBC students and trainees and their supervising professor, and submitted to Mitacs. Terms and conditions for all Mitacs programs, for both UBC and the partner, are described on the Mitacs website. Acceptance of the Mitacs terms and conditions is a condition of funding.  More information on the process for each of the Mitacs programs can be found on the Mitacs website.

UBC will not submit Mitacs funding applications that involve interventional clinical research on humans.

Intellectual property (IP) and Mitacs Projects

There is usually no need for any direct agreement between UBC and the company supporting the Mitacs project (the “Mitacs Partner”). However, the University recognizes that Mitacs Partners often desire to have certainty around their rights and access to intellectual property (IP) developed during the Mitacs project.

During Mitacs-funded research if a University faculty, staff, or student is an inventor of technology, their contribution is owned by the University. In most cases UBC will assign IP developed during Mitacs projects to the partner at no cost. These instances are outlined below and covered by new express IP agreements.

UBC Mitacs Express IP Agreements 

After consultation with our industry partners and members of the research community, UBC has updated its practices to provide straightforward express IP agreements to provide IP-certainty for our industry partners. Please contact the UILO if you have any questions. Please note that Express IP Assignment Agreements are NOT available for NSERC Alliance – Mitacs projects.

The UBC Mitacs Express IP Assignment Agreement

Through this agreement UBC will pre-assign any intellectual property developed during a Mitacs Project to the Mitacs Partner if all of the following conditions are met:

  • The UBC research team approves of this assignment and does not have any conflicts of interest relevant to the Mitacs Project or Mitacs Partner;
  • The Mitacs Project is not part of an existing sponsored research project at UBC
  • The Mitacs Project is not an NSERC Alliance – Mitacs project; and,
  • The Mitacs Project:
    • is based on existing IP owned or controlled by the Mitacs Partner; and
    • will not make material use of any UBC facilities or resources (i.e. the Mitacs Project will take place entirely in Mitacs Partner facilities)

See sample assignment agreement >

Generate an express IP agreement now

The UBC Mitacs Express IP Option Agreement

In cases where the above conditions are not met, UBC will provide the Mitacs Partner with an option to obtain a license to intellectual property that is developed during the Mitacs Project. The UBC Mitacs Express IP Option Agreement provides the Mitacs Partner with:

  • A non-exclusive, fully paid up, license to make, use and sell (but not sublicense) products and services based on any IP (including data, results, and know-how) that is developed during the Mitacs Project.
  • A time-limited option to obtain an exclusive, royalty-bearing, license for IP generated during the Mitacs Project.

These Express IP Agreements will be automatically generated upon the company completing the questionnaire below. Once signed by the Mitacs partner they should be sent to the UILO for signature and return.

See sample option agreement >

Generate an express IP agreement now

 
FAQs 

  

Generate an Express IP Agreement

Please answer the following questions to obtain a link to generate the appropriate intellectual property agreement for your Mitacs project. If you have any questions, please contact jp.heale@uilo.ubc.ca. 
Please note that Express IP Assignment Agreements are NOT available for NSERC Alliance – Mitacs projects.

Does this Mitacs project create any conflicts of interest for the UBC principal investigator or the intern involved?

Does this Mitacs project overlap with any other sponsored research agreement with UBC?

Is this an NSERC Alliance – Mitacs project?

Is this Mitacs project based on company background intellectual property?

Does this Mitacs project use UBC resources or infrastructure?

Please complete our quick and simple form to generate an Express IP Option agreement between UBC and the company. Where there is a conflict of interest this agreement will be reviewed by Innovation UBC before it is executed on behalf of the University. Innovation UBC staff may contact you to discuss the nature of the conflict and determine whether the Express IP Option Agreement is the most appropriate agreement for the situation.

Generate the Express IP Option agreement

In these instances, the intellectual property terms of the sponsored research agreement with prevail.

Please complete our quick and simple form to generate an Express IP Assignment agreement between UBC and the company to transfer and assign all rights in the technology generated by the project. 

This agreement grants UBC a non-exclusive licence to the IP for research, scholarly, publication, educational and non-commercial use.

The resulting agreement will be emailed to you will need to be signed by all parties in order to be executed.

Generate the Express IP Assignment agreement

Please complete our quick and simple form to generate an Express IP Option agreement between UBC and the company.

The resulting option agreement will be emailed to you and will need to be signed by all parties in order to be executed.

Generate the Express IP Option agreement

University-Industry Liaison Office signature UBC Support Programs to Advance Research Capacity

Part of the VP Research & Innovation portfolio

University-Industry Liaison Office

103-6190 Agronomy Road
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z3

UBC receives support for managing its research enterprise from the federal Research Support Fund.

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