The reason I went into academia was that I didn't want to have an industry. I didn't want to work in industry. I wanted to be free to do whatever research I wanted. I found out that this was not actually possible, but I was young and restless.
But I really admire scientists who create their own start-up companies. I think the role of academic researchers is to evolve, have new ideas, and develop and train the brightest minds to work in those start-up companies. For me, the best tech transfer I can do is to train good grad students who will work at Dr. Chan's company.
I think the best thing we academics could do right now is discover something with great potential. We create intellectual property. We protect it. We should have a task force to license those technologies, those patents, to companies. As to what I think is lacking in Quebec, this is basically it. I think that we need to have more people who will help and some money that will be diverted to universities for people who will be helping scientists write patents. Of course, you need to make money out of those patents. It's one thing to get a patent, and it's another thing to get money out of it.
Dr. Chan probably has some IP in his research, and the only reason he's making money on it is that he started his own company. Do the fundamental research, create intellectual properties, transfer it to local industries, and train the brightest minds to be able to work in these companies.