Licenses may be nonexclusive or exclusive, depending on the nature of the intellectual property and the business fields to be actively pursued by the licensee. Nondisclosure Agreements Argonne uses nondisclosure agreements to protect a company's proprietary information while it is in Argonne's possession. Nondisclosure agreements are also used to enable Argonne to provide companies with Argonne information considered confidential. Personnel Exchanges Industry researchers can work at the Argonne site, or vice versa, on research of mutual interest. Each party pays for the cost of its own employees.
Appointments range from three months to one year.
Using Argonne's Scientific and Technical Facilities Argonne designs, builds and operates sophisticated research facilities that would be too expensive for a single organization to build and operate. The facilities are used by scientists from Argonne, industry, academia and other national laboratories. User facilities may be used without a fee in certain cases where the research to be conducted is aligned with the Laboratory's research missions, not considered proprietary, and the organization conducting the research is willing to publish the research results. If an organization does not wish to publish research results, or the research is proprietary or not closely related to Argonne research, then a fee is charged. For specific information, contact the facility of interest.