Definitions Research Grant vs Commercial Research Activity
The following criteria for discerning between research grants and research activity handled by the Commercialisation office
has been adapted from Griffith University http://www.griffith.edu.au/or/
and is useful for determining if research funding is best handled by the institution's commercialisation arm or office for research.
How does your institution differentiate between funded research activity that could go through the commercialisation or research office route?
The first level of criteria are based primarily on who is funding the research:
| Office for Research | Commercialisation Office |
| Australian Competitive Grants | Consultancies whether by tender or developed in conjunction with client |
| Any other competitive granting scheme not on the above list, including international competitive grants |
Contract research |
| Funds provided by a registered charitable organization, where there is a defined project, and a contract is required |
Any other "fee for service" work including domestic and international non-award training and client specific training |
| Jointly funded Chairs or other significant research appointments where a proportion of the costs of the appointment is provided by an external partner |
Entrepreneurial ventures (non research and training but including commercialisation of research products) |
| Business grants such as R&D START, BIF, COMET, pre-seed funding |
The next level of differentiation requires more in-depth consideration of who is "directing" the research, whether payment is determined by results and who retains the IP over the research outcomes:
| Office for Research | Commercialisation Office |
| Project and deliverables determined by researcher | Project and/or deliverables determined by client |
| Reporting generally by time frame or generic deliverables (eg "a final report"). Payment not tied to result. | Reporting and payment by specific milestones. Payment tied to results |
| Payment is generally in advance, based on a submitted budget | Payment in arrears, based on acceptable completion of milestones |
| Competitive at least within broad discipline area | If competitive, then within the specific area relating to the specified project |
| Researcher and/or research institution retain IP rights. Client does not have IP rights. Rewards from commercialisation flow to the university and/or the researcher. | Clients asserts rights to IP. Rewards for commercialisation are retained by the client. |
| Leads to publication in peer-reviewed journal. Right to publish with limited or no constraint | Leads to report to client. May not be published or if so, constraints imposed by client. Client may publish in its own name. |
| Results are "pure research" which add to the sum of knowledge, or are of general community benefit | Results are of direct benefit or use to the client and are often used to derive a financial or competitive advantage, solve a specific problem or complete work which might otherwise be undertaken by a staff member of the client |
| Not affected by competitive neutrality. The institution may subsidise the research or absorb on-costs | Competitive neutrality considerations apply. Must be competitively priced based on recognition of full cost. Subsidising the cost is considered uncompetitive. |
The University of Western Sydney provides the following guidelines on the definitions for research grants and consultancies to help determine which category research activity falls into:
Research
Research involves a creative program of systematic investigation. All research involves potential innovation and risk. With research, it is not possible to predict whether a given objective can be achieved. An essential characteristic of research is that it leads to publicly verifiable outcomes that are open to peer appraisal. At a broad level, there are two categories of research activity - Sponsored Research and Contract Research.
Consultancy
Consultancy involves the purchase by external agencies of (a) the skills and expertise of University staff and/or (b) access to University equipment or facilities to work on a specific project. Consultancy may cover such activities as expert opinion, analysis and testing services, product and process development and can be usefully defined as professional services based on existing knowledge.
Further details see: http://www.uws.edu.au/research/ors/research_development_redevelopment/research_and_consultancy_guidelines#1
The following Checklist highlights instances where consulting activity may meet the definition of research:
Characteristics of Research
| Criteria |
| Does the project meet the OECD definition of research? That is, the systematic uncovering of new knowledge with an essential characteristic of producing "publicly verifiable outcomes which are open to peer appraisal" |
| Can the outcomes be freely published without the body which commissioned the work either prohibiting, unduly editing or greatly delaying their publication? |
| Does the work seek to identify new knowledge and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications? |
| Does the approach involve an element of risk where the outcomes are not entirely known? |
| Would academic peers consider the work to be research? |
| Are you able to provide material (such as copies of the agreement, tender or contract) that substantiates the research nature of the consultancy to the Research Office if requested by an external auditor? |
Useful Links
- Australian Competitive Grants Register (ACGR)
- Research Calendar of Events - includes closing dates of major funding schemes.
- ARC Research Management System - GAMS
- ARC Salaries and Stipends - Current year rates to use for grant schemes. Includes Travel expense rates
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)- USA - Funding Opportunities and Information on how to apply. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of theU.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research
- Feast FP7- European Union - How to participate?
FP7is the short name for theSeventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. This is theEU's main instrument for funding research in Europe and it will run from 2007 to 2013. The European Commission's budget for the next seven years is €50.5 billion and the Euratom budget for the next five years is €2.7 billion.FP7is also designed to respond to Europe's employment needs and competitiveness.FP7supports research in selected priority areas — the aim being to make, or keep, the EU as a world leader in those sectors.
Research Grants
Background
A typical function of a research office is the administration of research grants. Assisting researchers to obtain funding to support their research and then helping researchers manage their grants once funding has been secured are core activities of the research office.
The 'Grants Office' will be involved in the administration of externally funded grants and various internal funding schemes designed to support and foster the institution's research culture. Common functions of the grants office can be divided into Pre and Post Award areas and include the provision of services and information in the following areas:
Pre-Award
- Finding Funding
- Proposal preparation and review:
- Administrative Review - compliance with guidelines, budget preparation, costings etc
- Peer Review - review of the 'science' of the proposal, possibly involving use of external reviewers
- Grant application submission
Post Award
- Contract negotiation
- Acceptance of offer
- Compliance (ethics and governance)
- Financial establishment
- Progress reporting and meeting contractual obligations
- Research output management and dissemination
Underpinning these functions is the application of policy and institutional guidelines relating to the research life cycle from funding to publication (IP, conflict of interest, inclusion of infrastructure costs/overheads, conflict of interest, eligibility criteria etc).
Business Process Overview
The following diagram depicts a typical workflow relating to the management of a research grant. 
Does anyone else have a process flow diagram to go in here?