Items such as the commercial potential of the invention, technology and market risks, and development costs are essential.

Find out what rights to transfer, and what limitations are to be attached to these rights. State the terms for the transfer.

Beware that the end user of the technology is not necessarily the commercial market; it may be the companies who will be investing in the further development of the technology.

• Is the technology essential for the research environment - are parts of it to be used as a basis for other collaboration projects, for instance as background knowledge in an EU project?

• Is the technology a part of a "platform" for the research environment that will be destroyed if it is to be sold piece-wise, or can it be transfered as a whole to a collaborator?

• Is the strategy to go for a license agreement, a reserach agreement, a company start-up, or perhaps a combination of these?

• Is the research institution able to finance further development of the invention and thereby make it more attractive for the collaboration partners?

• Specify the demands on research collaboration that the research institution will make on the licensee, and specify the kinds of companies that might be willing and able to honour those demands.