Collaboration Membership
The BSAC Collaboration Membership is designed to more actively engage members in research collaboration. This level of membership allows Collaboration Members (CM) to direct a large majority of their membership fees to support specific faculty-defined projects of high interest.
- Collaboration Membership includes the basic membership benefits and obligations as defined in the Participation Agreement (PA).
- Collaboration Members (CM) can individually or together with other CM's, designate one or more PROJECT(S) in consultation with a BSAC faculty co-director who serves as Principal Investigator (PI) and who defines, staffs, advises, and oversees the PROJECT.
- Each PROJECT comprises a best effort project statement of work defined by the faculty co-director, such statement of work is to be based on at least one GSR-equivalent year funding.
- All research results of the Center are reported semiannually on a prepublication basis to all members regardless of who supports the research; PROJECTs are not be shielded from that reporting obligation.
- Additional reporting, materials, visits, and prototypes, may be offered to CM by the faculty co-director where these are a consequence of the PROJECT execution.
- Collaboration Membership Fees are $155,000/yr. This fee shall be distributed to the collaborating faculty co-director to support the PROJECT after reduction by University overhead costs and a Common Allocation to support the Center and member elected faculty allocations.
- Collaboration Members may elect to support additional PROJECT(s), as defined by BSAC faculty co-director(s), at $125,000/yr Membership Fee per project. All of the additional Membership Fees (after reduction by University overhead costs) will be distributed to the collaborating co-director(s) to support the additional PROJECT(s).
- IP: A Non-Exclusive Paid-Up License to all Membership Fee-funded inventions will be offered on a time-limited basis to all members who agree to share the costs of patenting. However, if only one member so elects, the member and Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing are free to negotiate a royalty-bearing exclusive license to the Membership Fee-funded invention. This IP treatment is, as required by NSF, for all Membership Fee-funded inventions; there are no special IP deliverables associated with Collaboration Membership or Collaboration Membership supported projects. Members wanting other IP provisions such as sole time-limited access to negotiate exclusive options or license, and contracted deliverables may use the vehicle of Sponsored Project with full campus overhead (60.5%).
Timing and Integration of Collaboration Membership with Regular Membership
- BSAC Industrial Members can become Collaboration Members at any time by amendment to their Participation Agreement. In order to accommodate Regular Membership fees paid but not yet used, the CM fee will at the time of conversion to Collaboration Membership, be reduced by proration of unused Regular Membership fee. This is valuable for new members who want a period of “scouting” prior to supporting a PROJECT.
- Additional PROJECT(s) support can be initiated at any time by Collaboration Member.
- While it is expected that a PROJECT will normally be funded for at least 3 years, the Collaboration Member may opt-out of Collaboration Membership and revert to regular Industrial Membership at the level of annual Industrial Membership fee or withdraw from BSAC on their Participation Agreement anniversary date without penalty.