When that scientist says, “Eureka!”, the first place they'll look to is their tech transfer office, which is usually their innovation office within the university. There are certain personnel there who are hired to work alongside the inventor to help file and protect the patent.
In one instance, I talked about stem cells. Sometimes you have personnel there who don't have the deep experience and expertise within that particular sector to even understand the technology. That already is a first barrier of limitations. There are also financial constraints within that office. Here, it would be good for you to also speak directly with a person from tech transfer. I see the follow-on effects when they come to me.
Let's say they do file the patent. For it to keep progressing, the tech transfer office is hungry and worried and wants to ensure they've put their bet on a winning patent. They want to see your licensing deals and what's going on with this technology. They want to see how things are going. Sometimes the tech transfer office will say that they can't follow on with your patent.
That, to me, is a missed opportunity. There's a time gap. The previous witness just talked about this. It depends on the technology. In the case of the biomedical sciences, you just need a little bit more time and some more money to get things done. This is not the case with other technologies.
That's why one of my recommendation is to really look at the tech, have a sector-specific approach and ensure that tech transfer offices are properly staffed with knowledgeable personnel. We need to ensure they're properly compensated and have an understanding and the patience to walk the inventors through their patents. They're at the nascent level because they're the gatekeepers. If they don't make it out of the patent office within the university, they're done and that's something we lose in our innovation ecosystem.
I think it's so crucial. I saw that this was happening and that's why I rolled up my own sleeves to help within the university to do my part to ensure that it doesn't. Now my hope is that, working directly with Innovation York at the York University IP clinic.... It is supported by Innovation York, so we work together. This also avoids that siloing that we talked about that we see happening.
I'm just talking about York. I've seen it happen across other universities as well.