Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 12-partner Horizon Europe consortium signs the DESCA-based CA before project kick-off.
- Is an instance
A consortium agreement defines that foreground IP arising in WP3 is jointly owned by the two contributing partners.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
The Grant Agreement between the consortium and the Commission is not the CA.
- Not an instance
An NDA between two partners predating the consortium is not the CA.
Editorial commentary
For Horizon Europe and most other multi-partner schemes, a consortium agreement (CA) is required before the project starts. Standard CAs (e.g., DESCA for Horizon Europe) define decision-making bodies (general assembly, executive board), role of the coordinator, IP rights (background, foreground, sideground), access rights, default rules for default of a partner, dispute resolution, and confidentiality. CAs supplement and refine the GA; in case of conflict, the GA typically prevails for funder-facing obligations.
References
- DESCA (Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement) Horizon Europe model; European Commission consortium-agreement guidance.
Also known as
CA · DESCA agreement · Consortium contract
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Consortium agreement"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/consortium-agreement" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/consortium-agreement",
"name": "Consortium agreement",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/consortium-agreement",
"description": "A legal agreement signed among all beneficiaries in a multi-partner grant, regulating their internal relationships (governance, IP, confidentiality, financial flows, conflict resolution) in complement to the Grant Agreement with the funder.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/funding-finance#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/consortium-agreement",
"sameAs": [
"CA",
"DESCA agreement",
"Consortium contract"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:58",
"inLanguage": "en"
}
