Agreement Types
Types of Agreements ICO Handles
ICO's primary role is negotiating research-related agreements on behalf of Stanford with industry sponsors and collaborators. In addition, ICO processes and negotiates Material Transfer Agreements with for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental entities. The most common agreements ICO handles are described below.
For agreements that don't fall into one of these categories, please contact ico@stanford.edu.

Sponsored Research Agreements
Sponsored Research Agreements (SRAs) are used when an outside entity funds research at Stanford. ICO handles SRAs funded by for-profit companies.

Collaboration Agreements
Collaboration Agreements between Stanford and outside researchers allow scientists with common interests to pursue common research objectives without exchanging funding.

Material Transfer Agreements
Incoming Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) provide the terms for Stanford researchers to receive a wide variety of physical materials, including animal models, for research use from both nonprofit and for-profit entities.

Master Sponsored Research Agreements
A Master Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA) governs the activities of multiple research projects at Stanford funded by an outside entity. It can include multiple Stanford PIs or a single Stanford PI.

Outgoing Material Transfer Agreements
Outgoing material transfer agreements (OMTAs) govern the transfer of materials developed at Stanford to outside researchers.

Human Tissue Agreements
Human Tissue Agreements (HTAs) govern the transfer of tissues and other biological materials extracted from human subjects to outside researchers.

Data Use Agreements
Data Use Agreements (DUAs) or Data Transfer Agreements (DTAs) allow Stanford researchers to receive or share data sets with researchers at companies for research purposes.

Software License
Software Licenses provide the terms for Stanford labs to use software provided by companies at no cost to Stanford.

Equipment Loans
Equipment Loan Agreements provide the terms for companies to lend equipment to Stanford labs for research purposes.

Nondisclosure Agreements
Nondisclosure or Confidentiality Agreements (NDA/CDA) allow researchers to exchange confidential or proprietary information prior to establishing a research collaboration or project.

Service Center Agreements
Service Center Agreements allow outside entities to use services provided by established Stanford University Service Centers.