Collaboration with a private company involving a confidential technology

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

Our group has been invited to participate in a bid for a European funding. The project will be about bringing a particular technology to the next level. The project coordinator is a private company, and due to confidentiality, they cannot disclose details of the technology without us signing a letter of intent, but which also means a commitment in our part to contribute to the proposal and project if it gets funded.

With limited information, however, it is difficult for us to understand how novel the technology is compared to the state of the art, and this has made us reluctant to sign the letter of intent. We have asked them to refer us to their patent and whether we can sign a non disclosure agreement first instead of a letter of intent, but they seem reluctant to provide us with those.

What is the normal procedure in this situation? Have we done the right thing?