Technology Licensing & Procurement - Team Roles
Five team roles for the technology licensing and equipment procurement phase of a depolymerisation plant — covering technology negotiations, vendor management, factory expediting, intellectual property review, and payment control.
Role | Responsibility | Est. Count |
Technical Director | Leading technology negotiations and licensing terms. | 1 |
Procurement Manager | Managing vendor relationships, RFQs, and contract compliance. | 1 |
Expediting Engineer | Visiting vendor factories to ensure manufacturing stays on schedule. | 1-2 |
Legal Counsel (IP Focus) | Reviewing licensing agreements and patent indemnity clauses. | 1 |
Finance Controller | Managing Letters of Credit (LC) and milestone-based payments. | 1 |
Beyond definitions
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How to read this table
- Each row is one team role; Responsibility describes the specific deliverable for the licensing and procurement phase; Est. Count shows typical staffing.
- The Technical Director and Legal Counsel roles must be engaged before any technology shortlist is finalised — they need to evaluate licensor proposals before commercial terms are agreed.
- The Expediting Engineer role is often undervalued and cut to save cost — this is the function that prevents manufacturing quality problems from reaching site.
About this table
Technology licensing and equipment procurement is where a depolymerisation project makes its largest single financial commitments — and where poorly structured contracts create problems that persist through the plant's operating life. Five specialised roles are needed to manage this phase correctly, each addressing a different dimension of the commercial and technical risk.
The Technical Director leads the technology licensor negotiations — the most consequential commercial relationship in the project. Technology license agreements for depolymerisation include royalty structures, performance guarantees (yield, purity, uptime), technology improvement sharing, and scope-of-use restrictions. These terms directly affect the plant's economics for its entire operating life. The Technical Director must understand both the chemistry and the business of technology licensing to negotiate effectively. The Procurement Manager handles the equipment supply chain — managing Request for Quotation (RFQ) processes, evaluating vendor bids against technical specifications, and enforcing contract compliance during manufacturing. In a depolymerisation plant, the critical supply items (reactors, distillation columns, heat exchangers) often have manufacturing lead times of 6–18 months.
The Expediting Engineer physically visits vendor factories during the manufacturing period to verify that production is on schedule and to quality specs. This prevents discovering at delivery that a reactor shell does not meet the design thickness or a heat exchanger has substandard weld quality — problems that are far cheaper to catch and fix during manufacturing than after delivery to site. The Legal Counsel (IP Focus) reviews the technology license agreement for patent indemnity clauses (who bears the cost if a third party claims the technology infringes their patents), grant-back clauses (who owns improvements), and termination provisions. The Finance Controller manages the payment mechanics — Letters of Credit (LC) for international equipment, milestone-based payment releases, and bank guarantee management — which together constitute the financial interface between the project and its suppliers.
Key insights
- Technology license agreements for depolymerisation include performance guarantees that bind the licensor to deliver specified yield and purity at commercial scale — negotiate these terms carefully before signing.
- Equipment manufacturing lead times of 6–18 months for major items mean procurement must start well before site construction — delays in procurement are the most common cause of depolymerisation project timeline extension.
- Expediting engineers prevent quality problems from arriving on site — the cost of a single factory visit is orders of magnitude less than the cost of replacing a substandard reactor shell after delivery.
- IP indemnity clauses in technology licenses protect the plant owner if the licensor's technology is later found to infringe a third-party patent — a risk worth addressing explicitly in the license agreement.
Methodology & sources
Team roles and commercial practices described reflect standard chemical plant project procurement in India as of 2024. Technology license structures vary significantly between licensors — some use fixed fee plus royalty, others use royalty-only or equipment sale plus license. Letter of Credit (LC) payment mechanics for international equipment follow standard international trade finance practice. Engage a legal advisor experienced in chemical technology licensing before negotiating with international technology providers.
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