Background knowledge

When you initiate or join an existing research project, you will be bringing your experience and knowledge (protected or unprotected intellectual property) from earlier projects and research. Such background knowledge might be useful in the new project. However, you should ask yourself if and, in such case, to what extent you want your project partners to have to your background knowledge.

In joint projects (i.e., projects co-financed by the participating institutions), it is common for researchers to have access to each other’s background knowledge for work within the project. This access often includes an additional right to use another party’s background knowledge also outside the scope of the project, if it is necessary in order to utilize results. This license to another party’s background knowledge is commonly associated with a certain amount of monetary compensation, which may be necessary if the background knowledge is to be used for commercial purposes. Also for commissioned research (i.e., projects fully financed by a sponsor), the financier sometimes is given the right to use the researchers’ background knowledge in return of compensation corresponding to market value för such license.

Give some thought to how much you want your research partners or the sponsors of a commissioned research to have access to your background knowledge. If access is to be given, should this be in return of some kind of compensation? If the University is to answer for access rights, the license fee might need to be market-wise.