See the original publication of this blog at http://francis-moran.com/index.php/startups/what%E2%80%99s-new-at-canadian-universities-may-surprise-you/
There are many networking events and receptions this time of year and I love to take the opportunity to chat with entrepreneurs about their ventures and experts about trends in the markets. The question I hear the most is “What’s new?” Given the number of surprised looks that I get when I answer this question one-on-one, I thought I would spread the word a little further. So here is what’s new.
Industry liaison
Universities are not “open for business,” they are part of business and they are part of your local, regional and national economy. Universities in Canada have reason to be pleased with their growing role in facilitating industrial research across the country. While corporate R&D in Canada has been steadily declining since 2002, the proportion of that R&D taking place at post-secondary institutes has been growing steadily, according to Ron Freedman, of Research Infosource Inc. In fact, the amount of money being spent on research at your local universities has more than doubled in the period between 1996 and 2007 and continues to rise.
At the same time, NSERC reports that it is closing in on almost 1,000 of its Engage Grants (grants for first time partnerships between researchers and companies), which were introduced only about 18 months ago.FedDev Ontario introduced its Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative just over a year ago and already it has created dozens of new partnerships between small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and the university and college research infrastructure. At uOttawa, our program, Science, Medicine & Engineering for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, was announced on Nov. 12, 2010 and we signed applied research contracts with 15 new partners in less than four months.
Technology development and transfer
Traditional tech transfer can be described as the licensing of patent rights to partner companies who create products that they then sell domestically and abroad. Most of the discoveries that are made in university labs, however, are often too early to be viable candidates for a partner business. In order to de-risk these technologies, more and more TTOs are actively working with researchers to secure funding to further develop the technology. This proof of principle (POP) funding typically comes from federal or provincial funding sources and addresses the historical “funding gap” that arises after a discovery is made but before it can be actively commercialized. Programs such as NSERC’s Ideas to Innovation or the Ontario Centres of Excellence iPoP have provided millions of dollars to help get these discoveries ready for partnering. TTOs are normally the ones driving the effort to find matching dollars, industry support and reporting on the results.
Not every technology can make it, and some just can’t make it on their own. A good number of our researchers’ discoveries will not make it out of the lab because of technical limitations discovered during the technology development phase. But that is all right. In research labs, if we were looking for a “sure thing” then we would stifle the very best part of creative investigation. It is our job to be aggressive and to take risks.
What’s new? More and more TTOs are partnering with third-party aggregators. Opportunities exist to expand tech transfer through agencies such as the Green Centre and the Centre for Drug Research & Development to pool discoveries so that they may get to market.
Tech transfer used to be described as a narrow band in a wide spectrum of activities in research advancement. With innovative TTOs, that band is getting wider every year.
New venture creation
Universities are always a catalyst for new company creation. The most recent AUTM survey of licensing and related activity for Canada showed that in 2010, TTOs created 50 companies around technologies developed at the respondents’ institutions. But starting up companies is nothing new. New are initiatives such as the $5,000 vouchers for services available to qualified startups at UBC. New is the On Call Entrepreneur service at uOttawa that helps new companies access skill sets of qualified mentors from the community. New is the Startup Canada Campaign spearheaded by Victoria Lennox who has brought this successful British initiative home to Canada.
Student entrepreneurship
Universities are no strangers when it comes to students. Student entrepreneurship has gone viral across our campuses and those universities smart enough to recognize the value in meeting this growing need are already enjoying the unique returns of helping build student based businesses.
There are many examples of how our communities are helping students become the next generation of entrepreneurs. Enterprize Canada continues to support student businesses 10 years after being founded at UBC. Waterloo has created a unique incubator with its VeloCity and here in Eastern Ontario, the Startup Garage will give away $160,000 to eight student-led companies this summer, no strings attached.
As you can see, there is a lot going on in the post secondary space in Canada. I have not even touched on social entrepreneurship, collaborative research or initiatives in open innovation. So the next time you run into someone from your local TTO, why not ask them, “What’s new?”