Corporate Philanthropic and Sponsored Research

Philanthropic Support for Student and Faculty Fellowships (Without deliverables)

  • Sponsorship of Graduate Student Fellowship ~$50,000 to attract a top graduate student to work on his/her Ph.D. with a faculty advisor in an area of interest to the sponsor. The fellowship amount includes a student stipend of ~$30,000 and ~$20,000 for tuition.
  • Sponsorship of Faculty Fellowship ($70,000) to engage a faculty and promote their research in area of interest to sponsor. Faculty Fellowship provides discretionary funds to the faculty member for use towards their partial salary, graduate student stipend, and/or materials, supplies, travel, or other expenses associated with their research.

 

Sponsored Research Program (With deliverables)

  • Engagement of a faculty member for research on a particular topic with deliverables as part of project requirements, is through the sponsored research program. Typical cost for a 12-month project is ~$100,000, which covers approximately one month of faculty salary, an annual stipend for one graduate student (plus tuition) or part-time salary for a post-doc, materials and supplies, travel, and indirect costs.
  • Sponsored research programs can involve various types of agreements depending on the nature of research. Examples of the different possible agreements, per Georgia Tech guidelines, are described below:

Basic Research Agreement: Explore fundamental challenges in a technical area - This form of research is typically driven by scientific questions that lay the foundation for technological progress that spur business growth. A Basic Research agreement can provide the industry partner the opportunity to license the resulting intellectual property (IP).

Applied Research Agreement: Identify solutions to real-world challenges and overcome practical challenges - Under the Applied Research agreement, the company pays a defined fee to gain access to IP that is generated during the project and obtains rights for exclusive access to the IP for a specified period within a defined field of use. Industry partners are able to develop and launch a product with very low risk, gaining a first-mover advantage. After the exclusivity period is over, the company can extend the exclusive rights or convert to a non-exclusive license. Georgia Tech offers expertise and state-of-the-art equipment that can be leveraged in the final stages of development to test products and help a company ensure that they are market-ready.

Demonstration Agreement: Improve an existing technology - The Demonstrative agreement offers a straightforward and advantageous intellectual property policy for industry partners. When a company introduces background IP under a Demonstration project, the company has exclusive rights to any improvements at no additional cost. For companies that have licensed a Georgia Tech innovation, any improvements to the licensed IP shall be incorporated into the terms and conditions of the original licensing agreement.

Specialized Testing Agreement: Test new and existing products - The Specialized Testing agreement provides a cost-effective and secure way for companies to access equipment without making a large capital investment. This work is often instrumental in enabling a successful product launch. The Specialized Testing agreement also offers a straightforward intellectual property policy for industry partners. The sponsoring company will own all test results.