Substance, not label — what changes hands decides the lane
Ways to engage — the lanes, explained
You are not locked into one choice. You can hold more than one engagement at the same time, and move between lanes as your goals change. We revisit the fit together at the start of each term.
| Lane | Funding | Who owns IP | NDA | FIU office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · Open | none | students | no | none |
| B · Gift | gift | students | no | FIU Foundation (managed through the University's Foundation-to-ORED gift process) |
| C · Deliverables | fee | students (+ license) | no | Pre-Award |
| D · Proprietary | fee | you | yes | ORED / OGC |
| E · Research | contract | per contract | per contract | ORED |
| Time & talent | none | n/a | no | none |
Always — two protections on every paid lane (C / D / E)
- Educational / accreditation carve-out — FIU keeps a copy of the work for teaching, assessment, and ABET review, shown to evaluators under confidentiality. Nothing is made public without your agreement; a sanitized showcase poster is always allowed.
- Student-choice protection — no student is forced to assign IP or sign an NDA; a non-proprietary alternative always exists; and a student's grade is never affected by these choices.
This is the same explanation you'll see in the onboarding wizard when you add a project — one source of truth. — Masoud Sadjadi