Requirements for MIT NDAs

Every MIT NDA must define a limited Field (a description of the topics or types of information to be protected) and a specific Purpose for the disclosure, such as “to enable discussions leading to a potential research collaboration in the Field,” or “to explore opportunities to license MIT technology in the Field.”

In addition, MIT NDAs should identify the employees(s) responsible for all disclosures and receipts of confidential information on behalf of each party, have a clearly defined start date and end date for disclosures and have a limited term of protection for confidential information

MIT will not accept blanket NDAs allowing multiple unspecified disclosures to different groups across MIT for multiple unspecified and unrelated purposes, because our decentralized organization prevents us from tracking disclosures under such blanket NDAs.

Approval of NDA

NDAs must be reviewed and approved by the applicable MIT office and signed by an MIT-approved signatory. MIT students, faculty and other employees lacking Institute authority cannot sign NDAs on behalf of MIT.

When the requesting employee completes the NDA Questionnaire the completed questionnaire will be automatically sent to the correct office for processing, based upon the answers in the questionnaire.

The MIT office that will review and approve the NDA depends on the purpose of the NDA:

 

Personal NDAs for Off-Campus Use

If confidential information will be disclosed by an outside organization to an MIT faculty member, employee or student for a non-MIT activity (e.g., summer employment, consulting), and the information is not needed for any on-campus research or instructional activity, then the MIT faculty member, employee or student may sign a personal NDA specific to that off-campus activity, but should seek the advice of a personal attorney that can represent his or her interests. In this case, only the individual signing the personal NDA may accept the confidential information, and the confidential information must not be stored at MIT or disclosed to anyone at MIT. Such activity may not be carried out on campus or using MIT resources.

For students conducting research (thesis or non-thesis) under an MIT degree program at a third-party facility (e.g., Leaders for Global Operations, David Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice, Masters in Logistics program, special internships for thesis research,) a special personal NDA pre-approved by MIT may be required; the student should contact the program director for guidance.