Once created in fundamental research, information (e.g. technology and technical data) and non-encryption software may be transferred freely abroad or to a non-U.S. person anywhere. This is because fundamental research results are "ordinarily published" and thus are excluded from export controls as public information.

To be fundamental research, your project must meet all of these 5 requirements:

1. basic or applied research (but not proprietary, classified, or secret research)
2. in science or engineering,
3. conducted at an institution of higher learning (not a government or corporate lab)
4. located in the United States,
5. the results of which are ordinarily published and shared within the scientific community.

Please note that under requirement #4, the Fundamental Research Exclusion applies only to research results generated in the United States. You may need a license to share with non-U.S. persons results generated overseas, unless those results are going to be made public. Faculty can largely avoid export controls by publishing all research results, even just by making them readily available in a Cornell library.

Requirements of the "Ordinarily Published" Concept:

To ensure that research is considered "ordinarily published," Cornell cannot accept any restrictions from Sponsors on two things: (1) the publication of research results, except for a 90-day maximum pre-publication review to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of any proprietary or patent-protected "background" information provided to the team by the Sponsor; OR (2) non-U.S. persons' participation in the research or their access to research results ("personnel restrictions"). This openness is also mandated by Cornell's Open Research Policy.