Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to present to you.
It's my pleasure to be here. I'm a co-founder of the Canadian Association of University Research Parks, which we founded 10 years ago. I currently act as the managing director.
Today I want to speak about the opportunity to consider an IP matchmaking program, because we believe that part of the issue with intellectual property and technology transfer is a lack of understanding and awareness of what intellectual property actually exists across the country. I'll run through a few things on this.
The Association of University Research Parks is the national not-for-profit association that advocates on behalf of the 26 research and technology parks and innovation districts across the country. The parks are locally driven communities of innovation that link industry with government and academia. Our park network has an estimated 1,400 companies and 65,000 knowledge-based workers. Over one third of our employees have advanced degrees, at master's or Ph.D. levels. Our network generates over $4.1 billion in annual GDP to the Canadian economy. This is expected to grow to $6.2 billion over the next five years. Approximately half of our companies in the parks are currently exporting to the United States, and about a third of the companies export to Europe. As well, 49% of our companies are planning to expand over the next five years.
We believe we can do more to connect industry with opportunities for technology transfer through our academic institutions, which can result in an increase in commercially viable opportunities and growth in the Canadian economy. We would like to propose an intellectual property matchmatching system. Intellectual property fuels the creation of knowledge-based economies, as we all know, by providing a legal infrastructure through which ideas can become products. Robust IP systems foster innovation, leading to economic growth, job creation, and sustained competitiveness in global markets. Intellectual property, as empirical analysis demonstrates, provides a critical infrastructure that moves innovations from great ideas to tangible, real-world solutions, and makes them broadly available to others.
Commercial intellectual property is commonly an invisible asset, but it is critical infrastructure for the long-term growth and profitability of companies. Business owners worldwide fail to appreciate the value of their intellectual assets. A survey by the London Financial Times found that 84% of company owners value their IP at zero, and only 6% value it as anything more than 10% of their company's worth. Nevertheless, the World Bank calculated that royalty and licensing fees generated 5.2 billion pounds in the U.K. in 2010, showing the scale of potential revenue available to those who do recognize the value of IP. There's also an indirect positive relationship between IP and profitability. It's exemplified by Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, as an example, including its 24,500 patents and patent applications, some of which Google is using to defend its Android operating system in a global patent war against Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle.
On average, a strong IP environment is associated with an increase in the level of spending on R and D by firms within that particular economy. In turn, there is a significant positive relationship between R and D and gross profit margins. Companies with higher R and D intensity are expected to have higher gross profit margins, something that we seriously need to build in the Canadian economy. Companies that are profitable can therefore reinvest in their businesses and continue to scale their operations. Just as every country needs a system of roads or, as is often the case, a digital network to bring goods and people to market, so does every country at every level of development need an intellectual property system to bring ideas to market as products.
We propose an IP inventory mapping that would help identify opportunities and challenges for Canada, practically and a policy level. By mapping the IP assets in Canada and identifying IP customers abroad, a more targeted matchmaking between Canadian IP holders and customers, including researchers and businesses who can actually transfer this IP into commercial application, can be achieved. Meanwhile, policy-makers could learn how Canada's IP approach is perceived inside and outside of Canada, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and better alignment of Canada's IP policy with its economic development agendas.
AURP Canada proposes the IP landscape matchmaking project where we can leverage our network of 1,400 companies in the 26 parks across Canada, as well as a number of government departments that are currently undertaking intellectual property development and looking for partners to commercialize this IP. We can also leverage our global network of clients and partners through our Silicon Valley office and relationships in other regions, specifically in the United States and Europe, to identify and map out companies globally who may be interested in growing their businesses within the Canadian economy with access to this new IP or knowledge of such IP.
A national matchmaking program could yield many benefits, including a better understanding of what intellectual property exists in Canada, identification of potential opportunities for an increase in technology transfer, better alignment with applied research in priority areas for our federal government, an increase in industry-academia collaboration, an increase in industry adoption and application of research conducted through our academic institutions, an increase in the number of patents executed in Canada, and an increase in the potential global advantage for Canada.
Thank you so much for your time. I'm looking forward to the discussion.