How can you tell if a project is commercial research, a grant or donation?The contractual, submission and approval processes for each type of research funding are very different. Therefore, it is important to differentiate between commercial research projects, grants and donations. Sometimes it may be unclear whether a project is a commercial research project, grant or donation. In such cases, it may be useful to consider the following:
- contract research is research where the project was developed primarily by the funding agency, or jointly by the funding agency and the investigator(s). Such projects are not usually awarded on a formal competitive process but can be if they are managed via a tender process. In such cases, although the process may be competitive, the funding agency would prescribe the project that applicants would be bidding for. The funding agency would normally expect certain deliverables (e.g. prototype devices, new intellectual property, new designs), milestone achievements and reports in a format that is specific to the particular project (e.g. reports detailing specific testing results);
- grants for research are usually provided on a competitive basis where the project scope is developed primarily by the investigator(s). The funding agency may expect milestone achievements and reports but would not normally expect other deliverables. In additions, report formats would not be specific to the particular project but would be specific to the particular grant scheme (e.g. ARC Linkage reports); and
- donations are usually provided to support general areas of research, without any particular projects being developed by the funding agency. In addition, the funding agency would NOT normally expect specific deliverables or impose reporting requirements in return for financial support. Donations are funds that are provided on a relatively untied basis.
The University of Wollongong manages commercial research projects, grants and donations seperately.
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