In recent years, the UILO has been undertaking significant changes to improve the process of establishing sponsored research agreements. Many of these changes stem from the findings in 2006 of a Task Force on Industry-Sponsored Research Arrangements.

On an operational level:

1. The UILO has shifted the control of how intellectual property is treated in collaborative research projects to the researcher. Template agreements have been changed to reflect this move, and the UILO plays an advisory role, appraising researchers of their alternatives and the implications of each decision. This allows greater flexibility for individual projects, and an ability to respond to sector-specific concerns.
2. The UILO has been actively collaborating with common industry research partners to develop memoranda of understanding and template agreements which can form the basis of future agreements with the individual partner. By establishing standard terms covering previously contentious issues, the negotiation period for individual agreements has in many cases been significantly reduced.
3. Recognizing the fact that Material Transfer Agreements were significantly delaying research projects and collaborations that held little perceivable risk for the partnering institutions, the UILO has joined other leading North American institutions in implementing a system that can allow for material transfer under the right conditions to be carried out with no agreement, or a standard, simplified agreement. More...
4. An ongoing client satisfaction survey has been established to monitor researcher and industry partner satisfaction with UILO services in negotiating and handling research agreements. While initial feedback has been very positive, feedback has already led to changes in how Non-disclosure agreements are handled in relation to sponsored research projects.

On a university-wide level:

• The UILO participated in a task force looking into overheads, or the indirect costs of research, leading to a simplification in how these costs are to be charged, collected and distributed. More...

On a provincial level:

• Sponsored research relationships between the Provincial Government and the six public universities in British Columbia have been greatly improved and simplified thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration between the parties, brokered by The University Presidents' Council of British Columbia, now The Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia (RUCBC). The UILO was actively involved in this process, which provides the framework for a smoother collaborative process by setting out agreed-upon principles that will apply to all research contracts between the Ministries and BC universities. The final report, entitled Research Relationships, and an accompanying Tool Kit were published in the spring of 2008, and the early implementation of the findings has resulted in negotiation periods being drastically reduced. Full details are available at www.researchrelationships.bc.ca

The UILO continues to look at ways of improving how it serves researchers and their external collaborators, and of creating the most conducive environment for UBC research expertise and facilities to be the basis of productive ongoing relationships.