Companies
What’s in it for your company?
PoDoCo is a matchmaking program supporting long term competitiveness and strategic renewal of companies. It increases employment of young doctors in the private sector. The duration of PoDoCo period is 1-2 years and it consist of two phases: research period and targeted research period. PoDoCo program is funded by PoDoCo foundation pool and companies participating in the program. PoDoCo foundation pool offers research grants for the research period. After the research period the company hires the Post doc to deepen the research results and to create company specific insight for a period of time equivalent to the period of the grant period. The result is a win-win situation where academic research is supporting the long term competitiveness and strategic renewal of Finnish companies and young doctors get industrial experience.
For companies PoDoCo program offers an opportunity to investigate new strategic openings with the help of talented and practically oriented post docs, who are familiar with scientific analysis and synthesis methods.The programme will assist companies by:
- Helping companies to find highly-skilled and talented young postdocs to investigate new strategic openings
- Offering a research grant that covers the costs of a postdoc during the research period
Who can participate?
PoDoCo program is aimed for all branches and private sector companies operating in Finland are welcome to join the PoDoCo Program. Please note that publicly owned/financed companies cannot be collaboration partner, such are state owned/funded research institutes and city owned public utilities.
In order to benefit most from PoDoCo program companies need to have strategic vision and desire to search opportunities beyond the current strategic horizon of the company. In addition, the company should appoint adequate resources in order to perform the actions needed, such as guiding the research and analyzing the results of the research.
The commitment to the program is indicated by a letter of intent which is signed by the company and attached to the grant application. With the letter of intent the company declares its interest towards the selected research topic and intent to hire the post doc for a period of time equivalent to the period of the grant applied. However, a Post doc is not legally committed to work for a company after the research period and the company is not legally committed to hire the Post doc. Instead, the letter of intent serves as a sincere aim for an employment relationship to take place after the grant period and a serious commitment by both parties to try to make it happen.
How to participate?
The application process is simple:
1) Describe your /your organisation’s research interests by filling in PoDoCo profile here
- PoDoCo program makes continuous analysis by scanning the information and offers matching suggestions to your company
2) Select a postdoc with whom to collaborate
3) Agree on collaboration with the postdoc and sign LoI (Letter of Intent)
4) Prepare together with the postdoc a project plan (max 5 pages) describing the objectives of the project as well as an explanation of the main activities and expected results foreseen. It is important that the impact of the project for the company and the company’s renewal is included in the project plan.
5) The postdoc applies a grant by filling in the electronic application form and uploading required attachments at PoDoCo website. The electronic application must be sent within the application period.
What are the NDA and IPR rules in PoDoCo program?
A post doc and a company can agree on NDA and IRP issues with each other for the grant period. Following principles set by PoDoCo Management Group set a legal framework for NDA and IPR rules.
Non-Disclosure Agreement
Regarding NDA agreement it is important that a post doc retain the right and possibility to publish scientific articles. On the other hand it is important to secure the confidential information of a company and avoid leakages of confidential information.
- The Company shall not restrict the Post doc’s right to publish the results and findings related to the research topic generated during the grant period
- In principle NDA agreement covers a company’s existing background information not foreground information generated during the grant period
- A Party having received Confidential Information shall keep such information confidential and use such information only for the purpose of carrying out its work under PoDoCo program and only to the extent necessary for the performance of its work thereunder.
Intellectual Property Rights
- The ownership and intellectual property rights to inventions created in PoDoCo program are held by the party who has generated the result.
- The ownership and intellectual property rights to inventions created by the grant recipent during the research period in PoDoCo program are held by the grant recipient.
- If result has been generated by more than one participant (e.g. by the grant recipient and employees of a company) then the participants have joint ownership of the result. The parties shall agree upon the terms and conditions of the joint ownership.
- The ownership and intellectual property rights to inventions created during the targeted research period, when postdoc is employed by the company are treated according to employment invention law (Laki oikeudesta työntekijän tekemiin keksintöihin 656/1967). This means that employer has ownership and IPR to inventions of their employees
During the targeted research period (i.e. period funded by the company) company’s normal rules and practices for IPR and NDA shall take place.
How PoDoCo funding works?
PoDoCo collaboration program consist of two phases: 1) Research period and 2) Targeted research period.
1. Research period – Sensing and investigating provocative futures
The aim of the research period is to create far-reaching knowledge enabling renewal and development of the industry. The research period is funded by PoDoCo Foundation pool.PoDoCo foundation pool offers 6-12 months research grant for academic research having strategic importance for Finnish industry.
During the grant period Post docs reports to a foundation awarded the grant normally and results are openly and freely published (check NDA & IPR rules for grant period above). DIMECC may publish the summary of the research.
2. Targeted research period – Sense making to inspire the strategy:
It is desirable that after the research period the Post doc is hired by the company to deepen the research results and to create company specific insight for a period of time equivalent to the period of the grant period. The aim of the targeted research period is to escalate scientific breakthroughs by pushing foresight to insight based on the scientific analysis.
During the targeted research period company’s normal rules and practices for IPR and NDA shall take place.
After these two research periods the post doc has acquired valuable research experience and some basic knowledge of the industrial environment.For the company the knowledge created may provide valuable guidance in its longer term strategic direction setting.
