Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all members of the industry, science, and technology committee for allowing me to speak to you about facilitating technology transfer in Canada. My name is Stephen Beney, and I'm the council president of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, also known as IPIC.
IPIC is the professional association of patent agents, trademark agents, and lawyers practising in all areas of IP law. Our membership totals more than 1,800 individuals consisting of practitioners in law firms and patent agency firms of all sizes, in-house corporate and university IP professionals, government personnel, and academics. Our members' clients include virtually all Canadian businesses, universities, and also foreign companies that hold IP rights in Canada.
Today, I'm going to give you some of the highlights of our submission for the study, where we brought together IPIC members who work in private practice, university technology transfer offices, or TTOs, government research agencies, and large manufacturing corporations. Our purpose is to bring the perspective of these professionals involved in various aspects of technology transfer in Canada.
To begin, we define technology transfer as the process by which money invested in applied research in a university or college is transformed to produce societal benefits that may generate commercial revenue. We found four main routes by which technology transfer takes place. There's the industry-sponsored, university–college partnerships; there's the licensing of the technology to the private sector by the university or college; there's a spinoff company, where academic researchers create new companies to exploit their invention; and there's open innovation, where companies consider an external path to market, such as transferring IP rights or collaborating with partners who are better positioned to actually bring something to the market.
In support of your committee's studies on technology transfer, IPIC has six recommendations for you to consider.
First, a university's internal IP policy plays a role in the ease of commercialization of transferrable technology. Currently, universities are free to institute their own internal IP policies, a situation that has resulted in several different models. Some universities have a creator-owned IP model, others have a university-owned IP model, and some allow both or either. The lack of a systematic policy creates unnecessary barriers for commercialization. The different policies present different challenges to entities interested in technology transfer for purposes of commercialization, as they must customize their approach on an institution-by-institution basis. A clear national university internal IP policy could set out the road map for technology transfer within such institutions, facilitating negotiations of commercial IP arrangements between a university and a commercializing entity, including licensing and royalty-sharing agreements and private equity participation in academic start-ups.
IPIC recommends that, in the absence of a common internal policy of IP ownership between universities and creators, the federal and provincial governments should work together to study and propose policy options with the objective of encouraging uniformity within these common models, such that we can do that.
Second, universities have traditionally created technology transfer offices to promote and facilitate commercialization. These offices are funded by the universities themselves, and over the years they have benefited from government funding. While incentives provide the motivation to commercialize, the practices of TTOs and the commercialization models that they adopt determine the path of commercialization. In a nutshell, these practices and models determine whether a deal gets done and whether and how it will create value for the Canadian economy.
Therefore, we recommend that, to transform the range of expertise found in TTOs across Canada into a national advantage, the government should establish programs to facilitate knowledge-sharing across TTOs, including best practices in working with IP professionals.
Third, a key hurdle in university relationships with the private sector is the funding gap, the lack of funding from either government or industry to take innovations from early stage to a marketable stage. To bridge this gap, proof-of-concept centres have gained popularity with universities. These centres offer various services, including seed funding and incubator space, thus allowing inventors to test the commercial potential of their research. This is a trend worth investigating, with the caveat that providing researchers with insufficient funding is probably worse than providing no funding at all.
We recommend that the government should develop programs that help to bridge the funding gaps between academic research and market entry.
Fourth, researchers, students, institutional leaders, funding agencies, and other key players in applied research should have basic knowledge of IP concepts for the commercialization process. For example, researchers need to know that publication of their research might eliminate a possibility of patenting an invention that resulted from the research. Some may believe that freely sharing their discoveries is the best approach to solving a problem in society, and that can be fine; however, sometimes that may not be so, and the development of a commercial product would require a company to do it, and a patent for that.
So that researchers know the right information to be successful, we recommend that universities engage IP professionals in discussions and education about technology transfer best practices and IP basics. IPIC would be pleased to be involved in discussions about IP education.
Fifth, much has been written to say that the current metrics may not be sufficient to measure the performance and impact of technology transfer. For example, the Auditor General of Ontario recommended that universities develop socio-economic performance measures. To this end, we would recommend that the government work or support work on the development of relevant metrics. IP professionals would likely be involved in these discussions as well.
Finally, patent and trademark agents are at the forefront of supporting innovation in Canada. This is why we must ensure that the Patent Act and Trade-marks Act remain updated and competitive.
A current legislative gap that is relevant to technology transfer concerns is the regulatory framework for patent and trademark agents. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office, with assistance from the profession, administers a rigorous exam qualification process, but most of the hallmarks of a professional regulatory system are missing. There is no mandatory code of conduct for agents, no continuing education requirements, and no discipline process. A self-regulated body would provide all stakeholders in technology transfer with the confidence that the patent and trademark agents meet continuing education and insurance requirements, abide by a code of conduct, and are subject to a clear complaints and discipline process. We recommend that Parliament adopt legislation that would allow for the creation of a college of patent and trademark agents.
In conclusion, we have found that there are several aspects of the current technology transfer system in Canada that need to be addressed by the federal government to ensure that it's more effective and efficient. Canadian IP professionals continue to be at the front line of helping with this process, which allows for innovation and supports economic growth. We are confident that by implementing some of these recommendations from IPIC, Canada will be positioned to become one of the more innovative countries in the world.
I would like to thank you on behalf of IPIC for your continued support of our profession, and for considering the six recommendations I have presented to you today.