Contracts and commercial relationships · Czechia and Slovakia
Research and development collaboration agreement
Are you developing a product with a business partner or university, or running a grant-funded project? Agreements for research and development collaboration. Rights to results and intellectual property, confidentiality, milestones and commercialisation, for businesses and institutions.
What we'll do for you
Select an item to see the details.
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Structuring cooperation
Roles, contributions and project decision-making — who leads, how requirements change and what happens if a party drops out.
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Rights to results
The most important part — who owns the results, how joint ownership is divided, which licences each party receives and what happens to existing know-how (background IP) brought into the project.
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Confidentiality and publications
Protection of confidential information and publication arrangements — academics want to publish, businesses want protection first; the agreement can reconcile both through the order of steps.
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Funding and milestones
Payments linked to milestones, progress monitoring and rights on non-performance — and compliance with grant conditions where the project receives support.
Deliverablean R&D collaboration agreement with clear rights to results and commercialisation rules
How it works
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- Consultationday 0
Project, partners, contributions and objectives — we confirm the agreement structure and fee.
- Draft agreement
We prepare an agreement or review the partner's draft, marking risks.
- Agreement and signing
One round of comments is included; longer negotiations are agreed in advance.
Research and development collaboration brings together parties with different objectives: a business wants a competitive lead, a university wants publications, and a grant agency wants results for the public. The agreement is where these objectives can be reconciled — or where their later conflict can block use of the result.
We draft R&D agreements focusing on the areas that generate disputes: rights to results, background IP and publications. Under Slovak and Czech law, for businesses and institutions.
No-obligation enquiry
Ready to start?
Send us an enquiry. We usually reply within 24 hours with a price confirmation and next steps. The first 30-minute consultation is free and commits you to nothing.
- 1Send your enquiry via this form
- 2Usually within 24 h you get a price confirmation and plan
- 3We start work only after your approval
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What clients ask
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Who owns the results of joint development without an agreement?
The regime differs according to the type of result. For a Slovak patent, a co-owner may generally exploit the invention independently unless the co-owners have agreed otherwise; allowing a third party to exploit it is subject to different rules (§ 20 of the Patent Act). Copyright works are governed by different rules. The agreement distinguishes between the individual results, the partners' rights, licences and the use of existing know-how.
What is background IP, and why address it?
Know-how, software or patents brought into the project by the parties — not created within it, but underpinning the result. Without arrangements, you may own the result but be unable to use it because it depends on a partner's pre-existing right. The agreement therefore provides the background IP licences needed to use the results.
The university insists on publishing. How can that align with protection?
Through the order of steps: publication is delayed for an agreed period to assess patentability and file applications, and confidential information is excluded from the text. The academic partner publishes without the business losing protection — but both parties need this in the agreement, not left to goodwill.
The project is grant-funded. Does that change the agreement?
Yes — the provider's conditions often prescribe rights to results, disclosure rules and project sustainability. We structure partner agreements to avoid conflicts with grant conditions; a conflict between a consortium agreement and the funding agreement creates an unnecessary risk of repayment.
Legal Q&A
Common questions on this topic
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We developed the patent jointly with a partner. What may each of us do without the other's consent?
Unless you have agreed otherwise, each co-owner may exploit the invention themselves, regardless of the size of their share. A licence to a third party may be granted only with the consent of all co-owners, in Slovakia as well as in Czechia. Because the statutory rules favour whoever has the manufacturing capacity, exploitation, licences, fees and exit from the project belong in the agreement between the partners.
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An invention in a joint project was created by our employee. What must we do for it to belong to the company?
The right to a solution created by an employee in the performance of employment duties belongs to the employer, unless otherwise agreed, but the company must assert it in time. The employee must notify you of the invention in writing, and you then have three months to assert the right in writing or file an application; otherwise the right passes to the employee. An employee whose invention is claimed is entitled to reasonable remuneration.
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We are running a project with a Czech university funded from Czech public support. Who will own the results?
Unless the project is a public contract, rights to the results belong to the recipient of the support under Section 16 of Act No. 130/2002 Sb. Where a company and a research organisation are joint recipients, the statute offers three models: the research organisation keeps the rights to its own results, the rights are divided according to the extent of participation, or the company pays a market price for them. The model must be chosen in the agreement between the partners and aligned with the funding provider's terms.
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Further reading
Joint development with a competitor: when the EU block exemption covers the agreement
An agreement on joint research and development may restrict competition, particularly where it is concluded by competitors. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1066 exempts it from the cartel prohibition on certain conditions. This article explains those conditions and the clauses that destroy the exemption.
Read more →
Cooperation with a university from 1 September 2026: inventions and works of researchers belong to them unless agreed otherwise with the institution
From 1 September 2026, the right to a solution for an invention or technical solution, and rights to a work other than a computer program, created by an employee of a public higher education institution or of the Slovak Academy of Sciences belong to that employee unless otherwise agreed. For companies developing with universities, this changes who the agreement on results must be concluded with.
Read more →
Reserving the purchase of machinery or a vehicle: a future-contract agreement, or a sale agreement subject to a condition precedent?
Where a purchase has been agreed but depends on a loan, a grant or delivery, two instruments present themselves: an agreement to enter into a future contract and a sale agreement subject to a condition precedent. This article explains how they differ, when to choose each and what to watch for with movable assets.
Read more →