An R&D contract is an agreement between two parties with the goal of collaborating in research and/or development.
Such collaborations may, e.g., involve one party performing R&D for another (“subcontracting”), or it may be a joint R&D project where the parties collaborate on an equal level.
The project may primarily involve development work, where the path to the result is clear, and it just takes time and work to get there. Or it may have strong components of research and exploration, with results that are hard to predict.
For a solid cooperation, its rules should be laid down at the outset, in an R&D contract. Such a contract, e.g., defines the project, deliverables, reporting, termination, payments, handling of intellectual property and confidentiality as well as questions of liability and warranty. For some details, see, e.g., this LinkedIn article by Joel Hochreutener and Kurt Sutter.
Drafting the contract requires legal experience as well as technical expertise. Our interdisciplinary team has both, and we are happy to support you in formulating the agreement that fits the nature of your project while safeguarding the interests of the parties.