Innovation Services

 

UC Berkeley's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) offers a variety of Innovation Services to design, negotiate, and execute contractual agreements between the university and third parties that leverage or support Berkeley's dynamic innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) ecosystem. These Innovation Services include:

  •  Program Design
  •  Policy Vetting and Diligence
  •  Drafting and Executing Agreements

 

Thinking about starting a new I&E program? Reach out to IPIRA for guidance.

Contact the IPIRA Concierge for more information.

 

 

Startup founders meeting in the SkyDeck co-working space.

 

Berkeley's vast I&E ecosystem provides education, infrastructure, and numerous resources to inventors, entrepreneurs, and startups.

 

The dynamism of the campus's I&E ecosystem is driven by interactions with leading corporations, investors, and other entities, as well as startups.

 

If you have proposals or agreements from a foundation or other non-profit entity (such as a U.S. or foreign university), or state or federal government funds, contact the Sponsored Projects Office for assistance

 

FAQs

 
IPIRA handles agreements with third parties for UC Berkeley’s innovation and entrepreneurship programs. These are called Innovation Services Agreements and may be entered with startup companies, accelerators, incubators, and economic development organizations. By handling Innovation Services, IPIRA helps nurture and enhance: Berkeley’s relationships with entrepreneur networks on and off campus, its contracting authorities, its stewardship of campus intellectual property, and its connection to university compliance offices. IPIRA also has ample experience with the policy issues relevant to providing such programs to extramural partners: conflict of interest (including a new form developed for this purpose for SSUFIEs), conflict of commitment, space planning, intellectual property, export control, animal use and care, environmental health and safety, and risk management.
Innovation Services Agreements are treated by the campus as “Other Sponsored Projects.” In some cases (including for entrepreneurship training and mentoring) the same activities could be deemed Sponsored Instruction. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget Uniform Guidance defines and determines indirect costs and rates for higher education institutes.
While UC Berkeley’s Facilities and Administrative (Indirect Cost) Rate Agreement already covers Other Sponsored Projects and Sponsored Instruction, an exceptional 20% indirect cost rate applies to Innovation Services agreements when the following criteria are met:
  1. The university is supporting its entrepreneurial ecosystem through this program.
  2. The companies using this program are pre-revenue companies (no product sales).
  3. The agreement is non-negotiable as with other membership-type agreements. All companies in the program sign the same agreement.

Please remember to build the 20% indirect cost rate into your budget.

The largest percentage of the overhead, 10.5%, is returned to the I&E program and its supporting administrative unit.

The largest percentage of the overhead, 10.5%, is returned to the I&E program and its supporting administrative unit. Similar to the overhead distribution for Industry Affiliate Programs, the net overhead returned to campus from Innovation Services for Extramural Sponsors (adjusted to reflect the fact that the Office of the President retains a percentage of the overhead generated) is distributed in its entirety by a formula based on the following breakdown of the 20% rate:
  • • 4%: To the Director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program, or academic department for program support, which can be allocated to the Principal Investigator on request
  • • 10.5%: To Research Administration and Campus Research Support
    • • 7.5%: To local administering unit
    • • 2%: To central research administrative units
    • • 1%: To Berkeley future grants and matching funds
  • • 4%: To the Central Campus for Facilities and Infrastructure Support
  • • 1.5%: To the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances for Contract Negotiation & IP Management
Funds received under Innovation Services Agreements are made available by Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA) to departments or I&E programs. CGA can set up funds by project IDs or by fund numbers. When designing your program, consider the optimal approach for your organizational structure. Departments accessing funds under their Innovation Services Agreements can set up a Chartfield 2 to manage the funds for specific companies / extramural sponsors.
Invoices are prepared by the Contracts and Grants Accounting office (CGA). CGA distributes funds received to the I&E program. IPIRA’s IAO makes use of Phoebe’s workflow routing for its compliance checkpoints, and records Innovation Services Agreements in the university’s system of record for contracts and grants. All IPIRA IAO contracts and grants, including those deemed “Other Sponsored Projects” and “Sponsored Instruction,” are handled by the Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA). CGA provides invoicing, accounts receivables, and fund distribution, and provides important financial tracking and compliance functions for such campus awards.
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