In preparing a proposal to Cisco:

DO NOT submit any confidential or proprietary information to Cisco unless you have executed the appropriate Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Cisco intends to use the information and material you provide in your proposal to conduct an internal review and evaluation; Cisco has no obligation with respect to that information and material.

After Cisco has made a research award:

Cisco uses three distinct mechanisms to make research awards:

• Unrestricted Gifts. When Cisco makes an unrestricted gift to an institution to support a research project, the intellectual property developed during the project (the "New IP") is owned by the institution; Cisco makes no claims on it. However, Cisco anticipates that the results of the research will be disclosed by the institution to the networking research community by scholarly publications or by presentations at conferences and other research meetings. Cisco does not pay overhead ("indirect costs") or other surcharges on unrestricted gifts.
• Sponsored Research Agreements. A sponsored research agreement is a contract between Cisco and an institution that sets forth intellectual property ownership rights, license grants, and other related terms. The details of the contract are negotiated, and may include specific deliverables or confidentiality obligation terms if the contract involves access to Cisco's or the institution's proprietary or confidential materials.
• Gifts-in-kind. A gift-in-kind consists of Cisco hardware or software products donated in support of a research project.