Commercialization is the process or cycle of introducing a new product or production method into the market. Many technologies begin in the laboratory and are not practical for commercial use in their infancy.
For questions relating to commercialization and agreements, please contact technology@mssm.edu, or consult Mount Sinai Innovation Partner’s (MSIP) Inventor's Guide.
Confidentiality Agreements
A confidentiality agreement is an arrangement whereby one party agrees to hold the proprietary technical and/or business information of the other party in confidence. Confidentiality agreements or non-disclosure agreements are a standard tool of the trade, and many companies are amenable to having access to a technology under this type of agreement.
Material Transfer Agreements
A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is an arrangement where one party provides particular material to another party under specific conditions. You should always consider an MTA when conducting any outside collaborations with industry or other academic institutions. MTAs are typically used to protect materials that may be proprietary and/or embody a trade secret.
What are exclusive, non-exclusive, and option agreement licenses?
Option agreements enable companies to evaluate your technology and consider whether it makes sense to secure a licensing agreement. An option can be either exclusive, where for a given limited timeframe you will not grant any other person or organization the opportunity to evaluate your specific intellectual property, or they can be nonexclusive, which enables you to accept multiple options.
We encourage you to participate in licensing your invention. The more involved and interested you are in commercialization, the greater the chances that you will be successful in getting the license. As the inventor, you are often the first source of information for companies that be interested in licensing the intellectual property (IP).
How long does it take to execute a license agreement?
Once a company identifies the appropriate IP, it will need to negotiate the terms of a license and sign an agreement. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to many months, depending on the complexity and the response times of all involved.
MSIP can help answer any questions on the timing of a license agreement related to your research.