Price And Payment Of International Technology Transfer

The price of technology refers to the monetary performance of the technology recipient who is willing to obtain the right to use the technology and the acceptable fee of the supplier. You can also start from the different standpoints and technical contents provided by the two sides. The price of technology is called compensation (compensation), remuneration (remuneration), income (income), income (profit), royalty fee (royalty), usage fee (fee) and service fee (service fee). Therefore, technical price can be understood as a general term for all the above meanings.

The price of technology is transferred by the economic benefits brought by the technology. The greater the economic benefit produced by the technology, the higher its price. On the contrary, the smaller the economic benefits, the lower the price.

The technical price is basically composed of three parts: the direct cost incurred by the technology transfer exchange (personnel exchanges, the preparation of information, etc.), the portion of the technology development cost and the profit earned.

The expression of technical price is different from that of general commodity price. A fixed price is used for general commodity prices, which is a fixed amount stipulated by the buyers and sellers. The price of technology is related to the economic benefits gained by the technology recipient by technology, and it is expressed by a calculation method.

Two. Factors determining technical prices

There are many factors that affect the high and low technology usage fees. For a specific technology transfer transaction, the factors that affect the high and low use fees are mainly as follows:

1, direct cost, that is, the cost incurred by the supplier in order to reach the technology transfer transaction and the completion of the technology transfer process. The contents include: the cost of preparatory work before the signing of the contract, the cost of sending the negotiators, the cost of information, and the cost of receiving technical inspection.

2, the profit of the technical supplier.

3, the use fee is affected by the technology life cycle and the life cycle stage of technology. For short life cycle technology, the high cost of charge is sought by the technical supplier, whereas the royalty is low. In the life cycle of technology, technology passes through three different stages of development, that is, development stage, mature stage and aging stage. Technology at the stage of development and aging is of low technical value and low royalty. The technology that transfers mature stage has high technical value and high royalty.

4, technical suppliers are required to provide technical assistance.

5, the purpose and scope of technology. The technical supplier asks for different royalties only for the two different requirements of applying technology to a specific purpose or to apply technology to all purposes. Generally speaking. The latter will be more expensive than the former.

6, the degree to which the technology recipient is required to monopolize the use of technology. If exclusive use is required, that is to exclude the rights of the third party and the supplier itself to use and sell the product, the high cost of the technology supplier is required; if only the third party is excluded, the technical supplier will still be allowed to manufacture and sell the product using the technology, and the royalty rate will be correspondingly lower; if the technology supplier is allowed to transfer the technology to the third party at the same time, and it still reserves the right to manufacture and sell, the royalty is the lowest.

7, the technical supplier's responsibility for the guarantee and the technical receiver's ability to absorb the technology affect the technology usage fee.

8, competition among technology providers.

9, the economic benefits of technology determine the willingness of the technology recipient to pay the royalties.

10, the political situation and legal protection of the technology recipient countries are the premise for the smooth transfer of technology, and also one of the main concerns of the technology providers.

To sum up, there are many factors that affect the technology usage fee. But it can be said that the technical supplier is the two most important factor because of the direct cost and the lowest expected profit of technology transfer, and the lowest economic benefits that the technology recipient may get from the imported technology. It is also the upper and lower limit of the cost of the technology, and the final technology fee will be between the two, and both sides think it is reasonable.

Three. Estimation of technical price (royalty)

The royalty shall be "part of the income or profit of the technology recipient" and shall be paid from the total income of the recipient. Internationally, it is commonly known as "LSLP" (Licensor s 1; s Share on Licensee * 1; s Profit), that is, the technical supplier's share of the profits of the technology recipient.

Through the calculation of the royalty rate, the calculation of the technical unit and the analysis of the price difference, the general reasonable level of a technology usage fee can be accurately estimated.

　　 Calculation of royalty rate

The technical supplier's share of the profit of the technology recipient is usually expressed in a fixed percentage, which is commonly known as the royalty rate. The calculation formula of royalty rate is as follows: the rate of royalty = the share of the supplier in the recipient's profit * (the sales profit of the recipient party / seller's selling price) or the royalty rate = the net sales of the payment to the technical supplier / product * 100%

Generally speaking, the royalty rate of basic industries should be 2 - 3%;

Industrial intermediate products should be 3 - 4%;

Durable consumer goods should be 4 to 5%;

Non durable consumer goods should be 4 to 5%;

Advanced technology products should be 5 to 6%.

Four. Payment method

The mode of payment for technology transfer transactions can be basically divided into two categories: the proprietary technology with industrial property or industrial property rights, usually paid by lump sum or royalty, or royalty and royalty. For technical experts' service or technical assistance, they usually pay a fixed amount of time per person or unit per unit of service. However, various payment methods can be used separately or properly.

1. Total payment

The total provider refers to a fixed amount negotiated between the technical supplier and the technical receiver, paid by the technical receiver at one time or in installments.

The sum of the total payment is agreed upon when the agreement is reached between the two parties, and does not vary with the income of the parties affected by the technology. Regardless of the effect of the imported technology, the prescribed amount must be paid. Therefore, the technology recipient has assumed all the risks of the introduction of the technology. There is a definite guarantee for the supplier's return. In view of this, the total payment method should be considered in the international context:

1) when technology can be transferred immediately, and the technology recipient can absorb all of them immediately.

2) with regard to the transfer of less sophisticated technology or know-how, the technology recipient does not need the technical supplier to provide technical information about technological progress or product marketing continuously, nor does it need to provide continuous technical services and assistance.

3) the technology recipient has sufficient funds and intends to get rid of the dependence on the technical supplier as soon as possible.

2. Royalty payment

The royalty payment means that after the technology recipient starts using the imported technology, the economic use or effect (production, sales, profits, etc.) shall be used as a function, and the payment shall be made on schedule. The characteristics of this payment method are: when signing the technology transfer contract, the parties only stipulate the percentage of the royalty and the basis of the royalty, and do not fix the total amount of technology usage fees that the technical receiver should pay during the contract period. Only when the technical receiver obtains the actual economic effect by using the technology supplier technology, will the royalty be calculated according to the contract stipulations and be paid to the technical supplier on time.

3. Combination of entry fee and royalty fee.

Within a certain number of days after receipt of the contract, or within the first few days after the receipt of the first batch of information, it will pay an agreed amount first, which is called the entry fee or the initial fee. The entry fee and the total payment are fundamentally different concepts. The total payment is the total amount of the technology usage fee, and the entry fee is only a small part of the technology usage fee.

1) recover the direct cost of the transfer of the technology transfer as soon as possible;

2) compensation shall be paid by special parties or special technical assistance required by the technical receiver.

3) "disclosure fee" or "technology disclosure fee". Before the technology receiver decides to introduce technology, it is necessary for the technical supplier to introduce the relevant situation of the technology, or to inspect the factory of the technical supplier, which will disclose technical secrets to a certain extent, and the technical supplier will make certain financial compensation to the technical receiver to make up for the possible loss.

4) the technology recipient's ability to absorb digestive technology is poor. It is estimated that the technology providers generally require higher entry fees when the initial revenue is not guaranteed.

Five. Liquidation of royalties

Due to the direct or indirect relationship between the payment methods of technology usage fees and the imparting of technology and production, sales and technical benefits of the technology recipient, and from the technical supplier, information is provided, dispatched personnel, teaching technology is sold to the actual product, and a long process is passed through transportation, handover data, digestion, mastery, manufacturing samples, inspection and acceptance, commissioning, sales and so on. Furthermore, the technology transfer transaction is different from the general merchandise trade, and the payment method only solves how to calculate or extract the use fee, and the actual payment still needs a liquidation process. Therefore, it also involves payment tools, payment time, establishment of account books, inspection and auditing.

1. Payment tools

The payment instruments used in the transfer of fees in technology transfer transactions are mainly currencies and bills of exchange.

2, payment time

In the case of lump sum payment, payment is usually made by installments, and the number and proportion of payments are generally negotiated by the two sides according to the difficulty of the technology, the amount of money and the link of teaching skills.

In the case of royalty payment, the payment time is generally stipulated as quarterly, half year or one year, and then the total amount of royalty for each period is calculated accordingly.

3. Method of liquidation of royalties

1) collection (Collection), the technical supplier opens the draft at sight with the relevant documents to the banks chosen by both parties, and entrustment the technical receiver's Bank to the technical receiver to charge the technical receiver for the technical fee.

2) remittance means a way in which the technology recipient voluntarily passes the bank payment to the technical supplier.

4. Establishment, inspection and audit of accounts.

In the case of payment by royalty, the royalty paid by the technical receiver is related to the output or sales or profits. Therefore, the technical supplier requests to establish the necessary accounts and reserves the right to check the account, so as to check whether the fee charged by the technical receiver is incorrect.