Let's be clear. Today we're talking a lot about what we call technology transfer from universities to industry. That's only one piece of the IP puzzle.
As a short answer I would say yes, the federal government has a great role to play, whether it's creating patent investment funds, whether it's having a single IP czar, for lack of a better word, who speaks for IP, whether it's different agreements dealing with the NSERC and other FedDev programs, etc.
There are an enormous number of things that the federal government could do to help unify policy, to make CIPO stronger, in terms of how they manage and administer the patents there. Tech transfer is one particular issue of the IP puzzle. Yes, it rests more with the provinces, absolutely, and so there needs to be coordination, but I think through some of the government funding—through NSERC, NRC, and other programs—there are lots of levers that the federal government can use to help change the culture of the universities to better understand—because I do not think they do—that a patent today does not necessarily equal a product, except maybe in the pharma world, but is an incremental developmental stage, and that all of these legal agreements and relationships need to change.
Thank you.