Guidelines University of Basel

The agreement between the Cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft about the joint operation of the University of Basel and the Personnel Statutes of the University of Basel regulate the guidelines regarding research collaborations and the rights and duties of university personnel regarding research results, related intellectual property and its commercialization. The relevant documents are available in the collection of laws of the university.

The guidelines give an overview about the responsibilities and available assistance for researchers regarding research, development and service agreements. It also lists the handling of various types of agreement. A similar document exists for the University Hospital (see right column).

The university charges a contribution to the infrastructure on all research collaborations with third parties. The overhead is 20% on sponsored research projects and 40% on service and contract research agreements. The overhead has to be accounted for when putting together the project budget. Moreover, the budget needs to account for any VAT that might be due.

The fact sheet “Terms and Conditions for Industry Collaborations” of the University of Basel provides an overview of the most common types of industrial cooperation contracts. Depending on the type of cooperation, different contractual conditions apply, e.g. regarding intellectual property rights.

The guidelines describe the process for the commercialization of research results and the rights and duties of university personnel.

Income from licensing of patented inventions is first used to cover the expenses incurred during the exploitation (patenting costs, etc.). With regard to possible reimbursement to third parties, the remaining income is distributed as follows:

In case of cumulative income per case of above 1 million CHF, the University Council may decide on a different distribution for any sums exceeding 1 million CHF.

For details concerning the distribution of license income from biological materials or other non-patented research results please refer to the respective guidelines.

The regulation defines secondary employments, collaborations with third parties and aspects related to the commercialization of research results. It includes financial obligations, such as overhead payments, and the distribution of any revenues resulting from the commercialization of intellectual property.
The guidelines for secondary employments provide information for the mandatory reporting of such activities.

§ 16. Erfindungen und Designs, die von Personen im Anwendungsbereich dieser Ordnung (§ 1) bei Ausübung ihrer dienstlichen Tätigkeiten gemacht werden, gehören der Universität, und zwar
unabhängig von der Erfüllung einer  vertraglichen Pflicht (entsprechend Art. 332 OR). Die
Verwertungsrechte an Computerprogrammen, die unter den gleichen Voraussetzungen geschaffen werden, stehen der Universität zu (entsprechend Art. 17 URG).