Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

What is a CRADA?

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) are formal research and development agreements between a Federal agency (in the form of a government laboratory) and one or more non-Federal parties to perform collaborative research and development in any area that is consistent with the Federal agency's mission. CRADAs encourage the creation of teams to solve technological and industrial problems for the greater benefit of the country. The government provides personnel, services, facilities, equipment, intellectual property, or other resources with or without reimbursement to the non-Federal party. However, the government is not permitted to provide funds to the non-Federal party. The non-Federal party in turn may provide personnel, services, facilities, equipment, intellectual property, funds, or other resources toward the specified research or development efforts. For any inventions developed under a CRADA, the government retains a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice the invention or have the invention practiced throughout the world by or on behalf of the government. A CRADA is not considered a procurement contract. The authority for CRADAs has been codified under 15 U.S. Code §3710a.

When would you need a CRADA?

If an ODU researcher is seeking access to a federal government lab's personnel, services, facilities, equipment, or intellectual property, a CRADA can be requested to formalize the proposed relationship between ODU and the federal government agency.

How do you initiate a CRADA?

If you are a researcher at ODU, submit an Unfunded Agreement Request Form, along with an attachment of any draft agreement provided by the other party. ODU does not have its own template for CRADAs since each government agency typically utilizes an agency specific CRADA template that can be used as a starting point for discussions.