It is common that degree projects are carried out at companies or other research institutions and universities. In all cases, the general rules are the same. General guidelines from KTH are provided under Information for External Degree Projects, and crucial aspects are summarized in the following:

Public Access

The biggest obstacle for industry projects is probably the public access principle here in Sweden. This is especially true when a project is to be run at a company outside Sweden.

According to "The Freedom of the Press Act” of the Swedish Fundamental Laws (see Chapter 2, article 1-10), every Swedish citizen shall be entitled to have free access to official documents, and all documents that are held by a public authority (e.g., submitted to) are official. Therefore, the final report of a degree project is ALWAYS a public document and must not contain confidential information.

The Swedish version of the law text can be found here.

An unofficial translation (in the sense that the Swedish text is binding) can be found here.

This implies the following strict rules:

The final report is always a public document and must not include confidential information.
The grading will be performed on the final public report. That is, the final public report must be of sufficient detail to show that the student fulfills all course goals.
It is possible to have a confidential appendix that complements the public report; however, the confidential appendix must not include information that is crucial for the grading decision.

Delaying the Publishing of the Report

In some cases, companies request that the results are kept confidential under a certain period in time (e.g., when filing patent applications). If this affects the publishing of the report, the consequence for the student will be that the student will not receive the grade before the report is published (see as well here for further information on reporting grades).

Supervisor at KTH

The role of the supervisor at KTH for external degree projects is mainly focused on academic supervision (e.g., feedback on the overall work process, the report, the seminar presentation) in order to make sure that the project progresses and the course goals are met.

Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

The law department at KTH advises KTH staff strictly against signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Since the grading is to be performed on the public version of the report and since supervision of industry projects is mainly restricted to academic supervision (e.g., feedback on the overall work process, the report, the seminar presentation) there should not be a need to expose KTH staff to confidential material.

Students are free to sign as many NDAs as needed on their own behalf.