- Faculty identify potential industry partner or reach out to the College Research Office for assistance identifying potential industry partner for a research project. If the latter, the College Research Office might reach out to the Marquette University Office of Corporate Engagement and Partnerships (OCEP) for assistance.
- If faculty are interested in working with the company, the College Research Office can help schedule an initial meeting to explore potential areas of interest (non-confidential) based on the company’s needs and faculty expertise and capacity.
- If both parties have continued interest and further in-depth discussion is needed, OCEP will help develop the appropriate non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Note that OCEP signs the NDA on behalf of the University.
- OCEP will share a copy of Marquette's standard Educational Research Agreement (ERA*) with the company, so they understand the University's requirements for projects.
- Further discussions under the NDA are typically conducted to identify a specific project, to gauge the company’s interest and to determine the approximate size of the project.
- The faculty will usually develop a draft scope of work with no budget** that can be shared with the company. This draft should also be given to the College Research Office and OCEP. At this stage, the project does not yet need to be entered into Kuali.
- There might be additional communication/meetings with the company. The College Research Office can assist with this communication, if desired. Once there is general agreement on the draft statement of work:
- A full proposal is developed.
- Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) will help to develop a budget.
- Proposal and budget are entered into Kuali.
- Proposal goes through the approval process in Kuali.
- Once proposal has been approved through Kuali, ORSP will prepare an ERA that incorporates the proposal and will send the ERA to OCEP. OCEP will send the ERA (including the proposal) to the company for review.
- If the proposal is accepted, OCEP will obtain approval and signatures from the company and University officials. OCEP will send the fully executed document to ORSP and the post award process will begin.
* The ERA outlines the University’s publication and intellectual property requirements and other legal requirements.
**Please note: no budget should be sent to companies unless developed and reviewed/approved by ORSP and OCEP.