The signing of a consortium agreement is compulsory under a few Marie Skłodowska-Curie calls only – when it is not, the Work Programme always explicitly states so. For instance, there are no consortium agreements in mono-beneficiary projects.

A first step would therefore be to check whether a consortium agreement is compulsory in your case, depending on the type of project that you will take part in.

If a consortium agreement is not compulsory, it is usually good practice to conclude one anyway if you are part of a multi-beneficiary MSCA. In particular, a consortium agreement will usually be useful in case of a multiplicity of partners from different backgrounds (industry, academia) and will help you to clarify management and intellectual property issues.

In terms of intellectual property, please note that the rules in MSCA bear many similarities to the rules applicable in “standard” Horizon 2020 research and innovation actions (which most models are based on).

So far, two model Consortium Agreement templates have been published for MSCA-ITN projects, on the basis of the DESCA model: the LERU model and the BAK model. You can find them in the "Useful Documents" section of our online library.