Technology Transfer – Capturing research value for positive impact on the Canadian economy

New knowledge created through the more than $13B per year in academic research and innovation can be mobilized for the public benefit by transferring intellectual property (IP) to new and existing firms to develop new products and services. Examples include the Canadian-pioneered, world-changing discoveries canola, insulin, cobalt radiation therapy, and the electron microscope.

This technology transfer process is often facilitated and managed by Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), which are hosted within, or partnered with, post-secondary institutions (PSIs), and have resident business, legal, and technical expertise. Canadian TTO activities and outcomes are substantial: over the 10 years between 2008 and 2017, 18,329 inventions were disclosed; 9,727 new patent applications were filed, with 2,059 patents issued; 6,187 licenses and options were executed, with 70% to small businesses; and 712 new startup companies were launched, with 111 in 2017.

Recently, technology transfer professionals, hosted by our professional association, AUTM, convened in Halifax for the 2018 AUTM Canadian Region meeting, which featured discussions on metrics, performance, and the broad mission with which our profession is currently charged. Today’s responsibilities go well beyond moving technologies out of research institutions, and now include economic development, entrepreneurship, and research collaborations with industry partners. Stakeholders include: industry, researchers, government, and the general public. Industry seeks access to talent, validated ideas for new products, and assistance with solving difficult problems. Researchers seek funding, opportunities for their students, and a private sector partner willing to take their ideas to the next level. Government seeks job creation, economic development, and attraction/retention of talent. The general public desires an increasing quality of life, new products and services, and value from the investment of their tax dollars in PSIs.

In short, the value propositions of TTOs are: (1) to capture the value of research through licensing IP to existing companies and creating new startups; (2) to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs, and (3) to grow the economy by supporting collaborations between researchers and companies to develop new products and services (currently $1B annually, which is 7% of total PSI research funding and ranks 2^nd among G7 countries).

In 2017, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology produced a report of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer that highlighted the challenges faced by government, PSIs, and private firms, and provided recommendations to improve the commercialization of academic IP and to build the innovation capacities of PSIs, SMEs, and entrepreneurs by facilitating collaborative partnerships. Recommendations included: a review of current metrics, surveys, and reports to better reflect performance and outcomes; a review of IP licensing, policies, and practices, with an aim to streamline approaches among PSIs; and new ways to support Canadian enterprises engaging in technology transfer with PSIs.

Since the late 1990s, metrics and reports on Canadian performance have been published by AUTM, and, until 2009, by Statistics Canada. However, these reports focus on narrow IP-related metrics, and thus do not consider the broader mission of PSI innovation in support of the Canadian economy. They also understate the contributions of colleges and polytechnics, which do not retain IP rights when collaborating with industry. Ideas for improved metrics abound, and include impact-based metrics developed by UBC (Bubela and Caulfield, Trends in Biotechnology 28 (2010), 447-451), and aggregated nationwide metrics and surveys, as reported by Knowledge Transfer Ireland, which emphasize industry collaboration, consultancy, jobs, and new products and services.

Unlike almost all other countries, Canadian universities lack uniform IP ownership and licensing policies. Notably, in the United States, passage in 1980 of the Bayh-Dole Act established uniform institution-owned IP policies, created strong incentives for university-industry partnerships, and clarified patent ownership and related benefits in the federal R&D system. Conversely in Canada, IP policy can be institution-owned, inventor-owned, or a hybrid of the two. Opinions differ as to whether mobilization of IP is helped, e.g., by allowing institution policy to match institution strengths, or hindered, e.g., by sowing confusion as companies that seek to partner with multiple institutions must adapt to multiple policies.

Lack of information can also hinder partnership opportunities between PSIs and private companies – private firms do not know what research is being performed, where expertise exists, nor what IP is available that could be useful for their business. A model for an active interface between PSIs and industry is the Western Canadian Innovation Offices Consortium (WCIO, see wcio.ca) that connects Western Canadian industry needs with the array of resources and capabilities that exist in WCIO’s 40-member consortium of universities, colleges, and polytechnics. WCIO has prototyped a “Market Pull” solution that aligns academic research activity with industry needs. Business development specialists, who possess significant sector-specific expertise, proactively engage industry to ascertain challenges, communicate opportunities for collaboration to academic researchers, and direct resources towards research that can meet the immediate needs of industry – across institution type and geography.

We believe the WCIO model can be broadly deployed across Canada and into multiple industry sectors to increase the multifaceted exchange of ideas and knowledge through new collaborations among institutions, research organizations, communities, agencies, and industry. Through this approach, effective and coordinated pan-Canadian research consortia can be mobilized to address real problems faced by industry and deliver implementable solutions that will improve Canada’s profitability and competitiveness.

In summary, TTOs manage the interconnections that are essential to the flow of ideas and expertise between PSIs and industry. A key opportunity to strengthen the Canadian innovation ecosystem is to ensure that TTOs are well resourced, supported, and networked across the country, such that industry and society can best benefit from the substantial expertise and capabilities of Canadian PSIs.

Darren Fast, Ph.D., Director, Technology Transfer, University of Manitoba

Kenneth W. Porter, Ph.D., Director, Social Enterprise, Innovate Calgary