UB SWIFT
Efficient licensing negotiations for industry-sponsored research
The University at Buffalo values the mutual benefits of academic-industry collaborations and understands that efficient transactions and financial certainty are important to business. For industry-sponsored research, the SWIFT approach empowers both entities to set research and licensing terms at the project planning stage, reducing transaction time and eliminating lengthy, costly negotiations from the partnering process.
The university offers UB SWIFT terms as a beneficial alternative to the standard option terms in industry sponsored research agreements (see comparison chart).
- Company locks in preferred exclusive license terms for all intellectual property resulting from the project.
- Expedited transaction time through use of the standard SWIFT agreement.
- Company part of SWIFT decision: the company, UB and the principal investigator will decide jointly if the project is suitable for UB SWIFT.
- Exception requests will be considered for university-owned, background intellectual property not included in the exclusive license terms.
- **UB offers a special version of UB SWIFT preferred exclusive license terms for UB CAT life sciences company projects.
| Terms | UB SWIFT | UB Standard Option |
| Preferred Terms Fee | 10% of the contract budget or $15,000, whichever is greater | n/a |
| Royalty Rate | 1% after exceeding $50 million in cumulative net sales if market entry requires human trials and regulatory approval; or 1% after exceeding $20 million in cumulative net sales for all other technology | Negotiated |
| License issue fee | None | Negotiated |
| Minimum Annual Royalties | None | Negotiated |
| Due Diligence Milestones | None (unless the project includes federal funding) | Negotiated |
| Sublicensing | Granted | Negotiated |
| Patent Prosecution Management | Company Manages | Negotiated |
- Payment of the Preferred Terms Fee secures the sponsor an exclusive, worldwide license with preferred terms for all UB’s rights in inventions arising from the research project that are solely or jointly owned by UB (i.e. by the Research Foundation for SUNY for the benefit of UB).
- To encourage academic-industry collaborations, one half of the Preferred Terms Fee is deposited into the principal investigator’s (PI's) non-sponsored research account for discretionary research use. If there are co-PIs, the PI allocation will be distributed evenly among them. This funding is expected to help the PI(s) support their labs and seed new research avenues and proposals that grow and expand UB’s research enterprise. The remaining half of the fee will be deposited in a general account to support campus research activities. The Preferred Terms Fee is calculated based on the entire project budget including standard university facility & administrative (F&A) fees that must be paid at the full applicable research F&A rate.
- The Preferred Terms Fee is applied based on funds obligated in the agreement. As an example, if the initial obligation of funds is less than $150,000, the sponsor pays $15,000. If the project is extended, the sponsor will not be charged the 10% fee on future obligations until after the $150,000 threshold in obligated funds is exceeded.
- The Preferred Terms Fee is due within 30 days after execution of the agreement. Failure to pay will result in the license converting from the UB SWIFT preferred terms to the company receiving an option to negotiate a license to any IP resulting from the project.
- If federal funding is used in part to develop the project invention(s), the license will be subject to other terms such as performance milestones required to satisfy federal Bayh-Dole obligations.
- Under the UB SWIFT, the sponsor manages all patent activities and pays all costs associated with patent prosecution. The sponsor will collaborate with UB on the patent claims and must name the Research Foundation for SUNY as the sole or joint assignee, as appropriate.
- The UB SWIFT is not available for consortia agreements, awards for public service, testing, or research awards or sub-awards/subcontracts from government, non-profit or other types of non-commercial sponsors.
- UB CAT projects may have the SWIFT upfront preferred terms fee waived ($0). Explore the UB CAT program to learn more.
- The cumulative nets sales amount before royalty payments are reduced by 20%, but all other SWIFT benefits remain.
- SWIFT terms are subject to PI approval.
| Terms | UB SWIFT FOR UB CAT | UB Standard Option |
| Preferred Terms Fee | $0. The Preferred Terms Fee is waived for UB CAT funded projects. | n/a |
| Royalty Rate | 1% after exceeding $40M in cumulative net sales if market entry requires human trials and regulatory approval; or 1% after exceeding $16M in cumulative net sales for all other technology | Negotiated |
| License issue fee | None | Negotiated |
| Minimum Annual Royalties | None | Negotiated |
| Due Diligence Milestones | None (unless the project includes federal funding) | Negotiated |
| Sublicensing | Granted | Negotiated |
| Patent Prosecution Management | Company Manages | Negotiated |
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