The proposed new office of defence innovation and commercialization is intended to be a one-stop shop for companies, associations, interested entrepreneurs and others. I like to look at it as a window into what we consider all the defence innovation initiatives. Companies that are looking for grants could have a place to go to get information and qualification. Information, such as on getting a security clearance or participating in programs on the innovation side, could be seen as that, so this is a very high-level proposal that I'm suggesting.
On the commercialization side, this is a very big “valley of death” slope that a lot of companies hit. They may get, for example, Government of Canada money to participate in a program, like the IDEaS program, but where they fall off is on the notion of commercialization. Currently, no government organization, department, agency or Crown corporation has the opportunity to help a company to the next step of commercialization, so that could be seen as important.
Also, this office could serve as the hub for intellectual property. As government is giving grants and developing innovative technologies, it could be seen as working with companies on how to protect IP. What does that actually mean? Does the government want to purchase some of the IP and provide royalties for IP? Also, how does one secure IP from adversaries?
We don't necessarily have answers, but those would be some of the early-stage discussions on this new office of defence innovation and commercialization.