Welcome to the Silicon Valley Defense Group's Industry Collaboration Toolkit. Developed in collaboration with lawyers at Fenwick & West LLP, this toolkit offers foundational documents and templates aimed to reduce friction, build trust, and streamline industry partnerships across the national security innovation base.

The ecosystem of companies and players that comprise the national security innovation base, will never be constituted of only traditional primes, nor will it ever be only startups and nontraditionals. The national security innovation base (NSIB) requires both established defense contractors, emerging companies, and nontraditional working in concert - neither group alone can fully achieve true Emerging Technology Readiness. With this as a founding principle, SVDG launched this initiative that underpins this toolkit in 2024 with a broad problem statement: “what can we do to better facilitate industry collaboration between bigger, more traditional NSIB members and small startups or new entrants?” 

Based on feedback from our community, we developed educational materials including a series of standardized form agreements that are commonly negotiated between “Primes” and “Defense Innovation Companies” with the primary goal of reducing negotiation time and legal cost and a secondary goal of catalyzing the desire for and availability of more such strategic partnerships. The intention is not to offer boilerplate, pre-negotiated agreements, but rather comprehensive, educational forms that facilitate efficient negotiations and contracting.

We are launching the toolkit with three of the most common agreements: a Non-Disclosure Agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding, and a Venture Financial Rider.

How to Utilize the Documents

For each agreement, you will find three documents:

• Suggested Language: Simple, suggested language for each agreement with highlighted areas for company or context-specific input.

• Suggested Language with Annotations: Practical explanations and considerations to supplement the suggested language are embedded on each page to help guide you through complex provisions.

• Companion Document: For each major provision, we offer key questions and things to consider when entering into an agreement.

Important Note: These materials serve as educational resources and do not replace legal advice. Companies should consult with legal counsel before entering into any agreement.

Navigating legal and contracting frameworks in the national security sector can be a major challenge for startups and large companies, alike. That’s why we built this Toolkit in partnership with lawyers and the community it serves.

In this video, hear directly from our industry partners about why these resources are critical for accelerating collaboration, reducing friction, and unlocking opportunities in the national security innovation ecosystem. These tools were designed with and for the companies driving emerging technology readiness, ensuring they meet the real-world needs of those working at the intersection of technology and defense.