UM Research - Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity at the University of Michigan
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Operating Principles and Definitions

Conflict of Interest evaluations and management are guided by three definitions (#1, #2 and #3 below) and four Operating Principles (#4-#7 below). With these in mind, each potential conflict of interest situation is evaluated by a UM conflict of interest committee. Then, if necessary, a management plan is created so that the proposed research or technology transfer activity may take place.

Definitions

  1. Significant Financial Interest.
    If a UM employee has a personal financial or management interest related to an outside company or other entity, and this entity has activities related to the employee's research (including as a supplier of goods and services used in research), it is considered a "significant financial interest" if any of the following apply:
    1. the UM employee or their family member owns stock or has other ownership interests in the outside entity with a value of more than $10,000 or more than 1% of its equity.
    2. the UM employee or their family member will receive salary, consulting fees, royalties or other payments from the entity related to the sponsored project totaling more than $10,000 during the next 12 months.
    3. the UM employee or their family member owns intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, royalty rights) related to an entity sponsoring his/her research with a value of $10,000 or more.
    4. the UM employee or their family member is an officer, director, advisor or employee of the outside entity, paid or unpaid.
  2. University employees and their families are covered.
    The financial interest definitions listed in #1 above apply to any University employee, as well as to her/her family member which is defined as spouse or domestic partner and dependents.
  3. Relatedness:
    1. A supplier of equipment, materials, or services related to the sponsored research or technology transfer activity.
    2. A business commercializing a product that the research is intended to evaluate or further develop; or
    3. A party whose financial interests would seem to be directly and significantly affected by the research.

Operating Principles

  1. Students/trainees are covered.
    1. A faculty/staff member with significant financial interest in an outside company may not serve as the direct academic or research supervisor of a University student/trainee who is employed by that company.
    2. A faculty/staff member with significant financial interest in an outside company may not serve as the sole thesis committee chair if the focus of the student's thesis is based on the sponsored research but may serve as a co-chair.
  2. A sponsored project and/or subcontract involving the UM and a company in which a UM faculty/staff member has a significant financial interest is covered.
    The University will not permit a faculty member, without review and management, to serve as Principal Investigator (PI) on a project funded by an outside entity related to the line of research to be pursued and in which he/she has a significant financial interest. Conversely, the University will not issue a subcontract to an outside entity if the PI on the University project has a significant financial interest in that company.
  3. Intellectual Property (IP) Ownership.
    The intellectual property generated by a faculty or staff member as part of his/her employment is owned by the University. Copyrightable works, as one form of intellectual property, are owned by the University if they are specifically commissioned, created in administrative roles, the product of sponsored research, or if they required unusual investment of University resources. University policy assigns ownership to faculty of copyrightable works, such as books, that are created at their own initiative with no unusual University resources. In some situations, the IP may be owned by the developer if it is in an area of work totally unrelated to his/her academic discipline or appointment at the University. In cases which involve both University-supported activity and independent activity by a University staff member, the patents, copyrights, or other property rights shall be owned as agreed upon in writing and in advance of an exploitation thereof by the affected staff member and the vice president for research.
  4. Intellectual Property Licensing.
    Intellectual Property owned by the University should be licensed by the University to whatever company/companies is/are most likely to develop it into a useful product or service.

Evaluation and Management

  1. Conflict of Interest situations should be resolved or managed.
    The appropriate COI committees should be the means through which all sponsored research- and/or technology transfer-related conflict of interest situations should be resolved or managed. Disagreements with COI committee decisions may be appealed to the Vice President for Research, who has the authority to grant exceptions.

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