Canada is the world’s open source factory for ideas. We create it, but let others commercialize it
 — Expert Panel consultation participant.

Ontario is Canada’s most patent-intensive province and has a strong publicly-assisted postsecondary education sector. In 2014, 66% of Ontario adults had a postsecondary degree or diploma, more than any member country of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The province produces one of the most educated workforces in the world, as well as internationally respected research and ideas. The gross domestic expenditure on research and development in the higher education sector has been increasing in Canada since 2007 and it is close to the OECD average.(Gross domestic expenditures on R&D by performing sector, OECD, 2019)

Although university-private sector partnerships have increased over the past five years, Canada continues to lag in moving university-developed technologies to outside licensors, (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, Gallini and Hollis, 2019, PDF)

Moreover, the latest Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) report, indicates that Canadian academic Institutions filed 687 patents, down from 790 in 2016 and the fewest since 2008. The AUTM data on its own is not conclusive and provides some basis for concern. We heard suggestions that the decline in filing rates is mitigated by better quality patents. Taking that into account, we would still have expected to see an overall increase in patent filings or to learn that universities are successfully utilizing other forms of IP, such as trade secrets, as preferred alternatives.

There may be some contributing factors that might explain this decrease in patent filings, which would warrant more investigation: in Canada, IP policies differ from university to university and their rules regarding IP ownership vary considerably, with some universities owning the IP but granting a nonexclusive licence to creators (for example, University of British Columbia), while others provide for joint ownership (for example, University of Toronto, McGill University) or creator-owned IP (for example, University of Waterloo). It is not clear whether these variations affect patent filing rates, but the question might be worth further study.

Moreover, a Council of Canadian Academies 2018 report finds that the areas of comparative advantage in academic research do not always align with those in industry in Canada. Whether this circumstance has a negative impact on patent filings may also be a useful area for further study, as would the question of whether better alignment should be encouraged between academic research and industry needs.

According to a recent study, Maicher et al, have identified the five fundamental pillars for the prosperity of a Tech Transfer Office (TTO):

  1. IP Policy and its official support by high-level management.
  2. The university [or college] and its environment including its prestige as well as its entrepreneurial spirit.
  3. The TTO internal organization necessitating well-trained professionals that are both integrated within the institution as well as networked with other institutions and industry.
  4. The involvement of researchers, since their ideas are the first stage of innovations and only they know how an idea may become reality in the first place.
  5. Industry and their financing providing both the resources for covering costs at the early stages of product development and the power for successful commercialization.

Source: Maicher L, Mjos KD, Tonisson L (2019). Intervention Opportunities for Capacity Building in Technology Transfer. In: Granieri M, Basso A (eds), Capacity Building in Technology Transfer. The European Experience. Springer, Cham, pages 29-46.

The success of TTOs depends on ensuring all these pillars are in place and it may take more than a decade until the they have realized the full potential of the academic institution. For more information on Technology Transfer and Intellectual Policy at Universities please refer to Appendix F.