SwedenBIO unveiled a new term sheet on 29 April during its seminar “Unlocking Innovation: Best Practices for Corporate–Academic Partnerships.” Designed to steer companies and academic institutions clear of common pitfalls, the tool lays out the key topics both sides should agree on before drafting a binding contract.
Collaborations between universities and industry fuel much of today’s life-science breakthroughs, but they also raise tricky questions around intellectual property (IP) and ownership of future discoveries. Recognizing this, SwedenBIO’s newly elevated IP Working Group invited leading experts to share insights and to introduce the checklist-style term sheet the group has produced to guide those early conversations.
Expert panel joins the conversation
The hybrid seminar, held live at Cirio in Stockholm and GoCo in Gothenburg, and streamed online, featured:
- Jessica Martinsson, SwedenBIO’s CEO
- Professor Olli Kallioniemi, Director of the Data Driven Life Science (DDLS) programme
- Jonas Åström, Research Manager at Olink Proteomics (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
- Peter Åsberg, CEO of Disruptive Pharma
- Johanna Bergh, Business Area Manager at AWA and Chair of SwedenBIO’s IP Working Group
- Per Hedman, Partner at Cirio and member of the IP working group
- Susanna Myhre, Head of Academic Alliance at AstraZeneca and member of the IP working group
Opening the seminar, Jessica Martinsson reminded attendees that “IP is a cornerstone in our industry, a key tool to safeguard creativity and innovation–and, of course, a company’s most valuable asset.”
A simple tool for complex talks
The term sheet itself is a non-binding checklist covering both background IP rights and the “foreground” inventions that could potentially arise from a joint project. It flags questions such as who owns improvements on existing technology and how to handle jointly developed discoveries–issues that, if left unaddressed, can create costly complications later on.
Real-world perspectives
Professor Kallioniemi explained how the DDLS initiative, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and managed by SciLifeLab, builds a community of “digital PhDs” to bridge AI and life science. “It’s not just the program that will drive change,” he said. “This community will advance Swedish life science and even perhaps spawn new digital-biotech segments, he predicted.”
Jonas Åström stressed the importance of strategic fit. “A DDLS partnership is a long-term commitment,” he noted, “so it must align with a company’s roadmap. For us, machine-learning tools to interpret protein data are central to our future and the DDLS project alignes with this objectives in a very good way.” He also highlighted Olink’s layered agreements, with both the university and the student’s employer, to ensure clear ownership of joint inventions:
“It’s standard to state that the inventor owns the invention,” he said. “But with multiple supervisors and shared labs, you need extra agreements on joint inventions and a clear plan for how results will be used.”
Avoiding delays and dead ends
Per Hedman underscored why early alignment saves time:
“This term sheet kicks off the crucial discussions before you draft a full contract. It helps you spot mismatches early, sometimes even to the point of deciding a partnership isn’t the right fit.”
AWA’s Johanna Bergh added that protecting a company’s IP must remain front and center:
“Whether you plan to go it alone or bring in investors, everyone will scrutinize your collaboration agreements to confirm you own your IP assets.”
From the industry side, Susanna Myhre of AstraZeneca reminded the audience that “negotiations with academia take time. Clear, transparent expectations are essential.”
Disruptive Pharma’s Peter Åsberg addressed publication rights:
“Academics need to publish, and we always agree, without that, collaboration is impossible. But we also need to protect IP, so these terms must be settled up front.”
Finally, Myhre summed up the human element behind every successful partnership:
“Beyond the contracts, engagement is key. When both sides truly want to work together, projects tend to succeed.”
You can watch the entire seminar here
