Commercial Enterprise/Contracts with the University
Commercial Enterprise/Contracts with the University
As an exception to the prohibition against State employees contracting with State agencies, N.J.S.A. 52:13D-19.1 allows a State employee or a firm in which he has an ownership stake to enter into an agreement with a State agency where the contract is for the “development of scientific or technological discoveries or innovations in which the State agency has a property right if the State agency has a procedure in its code of ethics for authorizing these contracts”.
NJIT’s Supplemental Code of Ethics created a procedure for faculty to request approval of the development of a commercial enterprise. The disclosure and approval process guides NJIT employees and their involvement with commercial enterprises for the purpose of commercializing intellectual property developed by the faculty member and owned by the university.
Prior to entering into a contractual affiliation, approvals must be obtained in writing from the Department Head or Chair, followed by the Dean. The Request for Approval for Development of a Commercial Enterprise application form (found on NJIT’s Commercial Enterprise Development and Licensing Administration (EDLA) webpage) must be submitted to the Ethics Office for ethics review before consideration by the EDLA committee.
