Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm pleased to join you today from the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples' unceded and unsurrendered territory.
My name is Mark Schaan. I'm the senior assistant deputy minister of strategy and innovation policy at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. I'm joined by my colleague from the department, Nipun Vats, the assistant deputy minister of the science and research sector.
My responsibilities include initiatives to encourage innovation, promote economic growth and strengthen Canada's business competitiveness in the global marketplace, including through IP policy.
The government recognizes that IP is a key asset for businesses and that having a sound IP strategy in place can be crucial to business success and growth in today’s economy. IP-intensive firms are more innovative, export more, enjoy higher growth and create better jobs.
Recognizing this, the government has made a number of investments to build an IP-savvy innovation ecosystem, starting with an initial investment of $85.3 million through the national IP strategy launched in 2018. The strategy is designed to help Canadian businesses, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators understand, protect and access their IP.
The IP strategy is founded on three main pillars, which are IP legislation; IP awareness, education and advice; and strategic IP tools for growth.
The strategy comprises a number of discrete initiatives, including amendments to key IP laws to reduce barriers to innovation—including to the Patent Act, Copyright Act and Trademarks Act—to clarify acceptable practice and to prevent misuses of IP rights. It includes the creation of the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents to provide independent regulation of this profession and to support the provision of quality advice.
The strategy includes support for IP clinics at law schools in the amount of $1 million over five years and $0.2 million ongoing. Those clinics provide basic IP advice and help train the IP experts of the future.
The strategy includes an indigenous intellectual property program, whose funding is $1 million over five years and $0.2 million ongoing. That program funds eligible indigenous organizations to support participation in World Intellectual Property Organization sessions, small-scale initiatives and projects related to IP, indigenous knowledge and indigenous cultural expressions.
The IP strategy also includes ExploreIP, with $4.5 million over five years and $0.4 million ongoing, which provides one-stop, web-based access to IP owned by Canadian governments and universities that can be bought or licensed, and support for the inclusion of Canadian IP in international standards. There is also a pilot patent collective, at $30 million, to support firms in the data-driven clean-tech sector to access a range of services including educational opportunities, patent intelligence, advisory support and a patent pool.
More recently, in 2021, the government launched additional initiatives to further support Canadian researchers, start-ups and technology-intensive businesses. For example, a $90-million investment in ElevateIP will help business accelerators and incubators provide Canadian start-ups with access to IP supports to help them strategically manage, leverage and protect their IP.
The $75-million IPAssist provides support to clients of the National Research Council's industrial research assistance program with their IP needs.
These investments are complemented by the strategic IP program review, which was announced in budget 2021. The review is currently assessing how Canada's innovation and science programming could better integrate IP considerations throughout the life cycle, from basic research to near-commercial projects. To inform the review, the government wants to hear from the public on this crucial issue. It will be launching a web page and questionnaire on the national IP strategy web page.
Finally, the blueprint of the new Canada Innovation Corporation was recently released, announcing an outcome-driven organization with a clear and focused mandate to help Canadian businesses across all sectors and regions become more innovative and productive.
Canadians are talented, creative and inventive. These activities will help Canadians and Canadian businesses take their new ideas and new technologies and turn them into new products, services and growing businesses in Canada.
I want to thank you for your time today. We are happy to take any questions from the members of the committee.