LabCom: explanations

Setting up a LabCom provides a long-term legal framework. The fact that conditions are laid down in the agreement for at least four years (with the option to renew) helps to save time. It will no longer be necessary to re-negotiate terms for specific agreements, especially as regards issues relating to intellectual property.

The agreement should set out a detailed scientific programme, built together by the company and the laboratory. A project leader who will be in charge of the research should be identified. An annual steering committee made up of representatives of the laboratory’s supervising bodies should be created. In this way, the organisation can ensure that the research is well-paced, with proactive monitoring throughout the LabCom’s existence.

A LabCom is a way to give a formal expression to staff mobility and commitment, including by welcoming staff from the company within the laboratory.

Announcing the fact that a LabCom agreement has been signed is a way to be more visible and be recognised as an R&D driver within an area of expertise. Setting up a LabCom can also help to obtain funding because it shows that the partnership is solid and structured and that there is a clear plan and direction for the transfer of knowledge.

Yes, they are. The many names used could be linked to the various funding arrangements (e.g. ANR LabCom and ANR Industrial Chairs programme), to the fact that the partner’s network already has a name (e.g. the international network OpenLab run by Stellantis, L’Oréal’s joint lab, GIS or Scientific Interest Groups run by Thalès), but also linked to the name give by some institutions (e.g. the ‘laboratoires communs’ used by the CNRS, LPAs – associated partnership laboratories run by INRAE, or the EPCs – Joint Project Teams set up by Inria).