Chapter 3 Establishing a framework for testing international cooperation

Three documents established the framework for collaboration. These were:

• a statement of modalities for collaboration;
• technical themes; and
• intellectual property rights guidelines.

3.1 Modalities

The guidelines for test case modalities were proposed at the first meeting of the International Steering Committee (ISC) and finalised at the second meeting prior to commencement of the test cases. Following is a summary of the agreed provisions.

• Such collaboration should be international.

The test cases shall not be open to partners from outside the Participants' territories.

Each Participant shall have at least one involvement in a test case.

• Contributions to and benefits from such collaboration should be equitable and balanced.
• Collaborative projects should have industrial relevance.

• Research should be carried out by consortia which are interregional, geographically distributed and decentralised.

• Research projects should occur throughout the innovation process.

• Results of research should be shared through a process of controlled diffusion that protects and equitably allocates any intellectual property created or furnished during collaboration.
• Projects under governmental sponsorship or utilising government resources should involve pre-competitive research and development.

• Existing international projects may be used as the basis for research and development test cases in order to expedite the feasibility study if they meet, or can be modified so as to meet, the criteria for approving a test case.

• Partners in an approved research and development test case must delineate acceptable intellectual property rights provisions in advance.
• Collaboration in each research and development test case will be equitable and balanced, in terms of partners, contributions and benefits.

• Each Participant will fund its own participation in the feasibility study.
• Each Participant will determine the method by which its own participation will be funded.
• Technical themes will be based on specified principles (Section 3.2).

3.2 Technical themes

Technical considerations were based on the broad principles set out in the Terms of Reference. Guidelines adopted at the second meeting of the ISC contained four specific principles. These were:

• no manufacturing-related technology should be excluded initially except where national security concerns preclude cooperation;
• technical themes were to encompass areas in which significant contributions could be made to world knowledge;
• technical themes were to be chosen which would benefit multiple participants to the greatest extent possible; and
• technical themes were to be discussed after each Participant had sufficient opportunity to develop its own suggestions for themes.

• Enterprise integration
• Global manufacturing
• System component technologies
• Clean manufacturing
• Human and organisational aspects
• Advanced materials processing

Technical Themes Identified for the IMS Test Case Feasibility Study

  Technical Themes                    Key Words

  1 Enterprise integration            modelling
                                      system architecture
                                      network systems
                                      database technologies
                                      product design technologies
                                      product data exchange technologies

  2 Global manufacturing              concurrent engineering
                                      organisational and economic aspects
                                      supplier and distribution management

  3 System component technologies     autonomous systems
                                      design and simulation
                                      sensor and information fusion

  4 Clean manufacturing               environmentally safe
                                      waste-free
                                      energy conservation

  5 Human and organisational aspects  human-oriented production systems
                                      human-machine interaction
                                      internal and external team working

  6 Advanced materials processing     machining
                                      forming
                                      complex processing
                                      process modelling and simulation

3.3 Intellectual property rights

IPR guidelines for research and development were developed at the first meeting of the IIPRC in Tokyo in June 1992 and refined at the second meeting in Brussels in July. In view of the short time available, the Committee aimed for a minimum set of IPR guidelines for the test cases. It was understood that these guidelines would not necessarily provide a precedent for IPR rules for a future IMS program. However, the experience that would be gained in their use would provide valuable input.

Although the IPR Guidelines were not to be seen as immutable, it was the understanding and expectation of the IIPRC that they would be adhered to by the partners in each of the test cases. This was confirmed by the ISC.

Broadly, the IPR Guidelines for test cases were intended to:

• underpin equitable and balanced benefits;
• ensure reasonable access rights to results for both R&D and commercial exploitation; and
• address the creation, protection and equitable dissemination of intellectual property created from the test cases.

• ownership of intellectual property rights;
• use of intellectual property for research and development;
• use of intellectual property for purposes of commercial exploitation;
• licensing of intellectual property to third parties;
• procedures for ensuring the protection of intellectual property generated during a project and the preservation of confidential information;
• the necessity of distribution of summary information and public reports in respect of the test cases; and
• provision for requiring partners to address issues relating to applicable law and dispute settlement within the written agreement to be entered into by partners participating in a project.

In summary, the Guidelines divide intellectual property rights into two classes: those which existed prior to the commencement of the project (background rights) and those which are created by virtue of the project (foreground rights). It is proposed that foreground intellectual property should be owned by the party or parties generating it and licensed on a royalty-free basis to other partners in the same project for research and development and commercial exploitation.

Background rights are to be licensed on normal commercial conditions to parties where the licensing of those rights is necessary for the commercial exploitation of any foreground intellectual property rights generated in the project. It is thus intended that parties will not be permitted to use their background intellectual property rights to block fellow parties from using foreground intellectual property generated in the project. The parties were left to agree amongst themselves about conditions for licensing background rights for research and development purposes.