NDA

In some cases, stakeholders from outside the university, companies, experts or scientific staff involved in the project will request you to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). The agreement is intended to protect their intellectual property. On our external webpage you can find a sample NDA agreement (Partner – TU/e).

It is important to remember that ultimately it is your own choice to sign the document. In any case you need to discuss the content of the agreement with the Network Coordinator or with the Managing Director, Jos Hermus of the Department of Industrial Design before you sign the agreement. The agreement should not interfere with the policies from the Department or TU/e. Be sure to only sign if you agree to its terms and conditions. As a student it is also your responsibility to keep your mentor (or other teaching staff involved in the project, e.g. squad leader), the Coordinator of the Master program and the Network Coordinator informed about your NDA. This to make sure that all people involved are aware of the terms and can prepare Canvas for your NDA deliverables.

Examiner Panel

In case the NDA interferes with work of either one of the examiners, a new examiner panel can be requested (by the mentor) to CSA-ID. It is your responsibility as a student to inform your examiners about your NDA as soon as the examiner allocation is communicated, preferably in the first quarter of your (one semester) project. This to prevent conflicts of interests in the examiner panel and the possibility and time to shift in examiners

Deliverables

• Non-FMP: In case the project with an NDA is not an FMP project, you should deliver your work directly through email to your examiners (or a hard copy if this is requested by one of the examiners) instead of Canvas. On Canvas you will only upload your reflection of the project. The examiner(s) can fill out the rubrics for your project in the assignment with your reflection instead of your report (even though it will refer to the assessment of the complete work). You should also email (using your TU/e email address) your work to CSA-ID, since the work needs to be officially stored. Please indicate that it is an NDA project report in the title of your report; being for example NDA_M22_Final report_Last name_Initials_Name project.pdf. In case of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with a specific number of years (Embargo) your report will only be archived but not published.
   
• FMP: In case the project with an NDA is a Final Master Project, you should deliver your report/work to Canvas in a special NDA assignment/environment (this is mentioned in the title of the assignment). It is your responsibility to inform the Master Coordinator as soon as possible, preferably around week 5 of your project, to make sure the assignment can be prepared on Canvas. It is your own responsibility to deliver your work to the correct assignment. URKUND is not activated and therefore will not publish your work in the cloud for future reference. In this case your report will only be archived but not published. In case of an embargo your work will not be published for a specified number of years. Please also indicate that the project is under NDA (or embargo) in the Delivery Form.
   
• Demo Day: Students with NDA can present their demonstrator in a closed room to their examiners. As a department we can facilitate with booking a room; you can contact the Educational Secretariat for this. The ‘demonstration’ may also be at another location (location of the company) or at another moment (before the demo day, on the Wednesday or Thursday), but this can only be arranged with agreement of the examiners.

If you want to protect your ideas when presenting your work to a stakeholder from outside the university, you can also use a non-disclosure agreement. If you are not sure if this applies to you, you can contact the Network Coordinator or Jos Hermus of the Department of Industrial Design. On our external webpage you can find a sample NDA agreement (TU/e - Partner).