Universities and Intellectual Property Commercialization

Archived Topic Box from the 2005 Fifth Annual Benchmark Report

Universities and other post-secondary institutions account for a significant portion of innovation in Canada. In 2002, the higher education sector accounted for 26.7% of Canada's research personnel (33.4% of BC's) and, in 2003, 16% of Canada's Gross Expenditures on Research and Development (GERD). Over the past few years Canadian post-secondary institutions have also been making large scale advances in commercialization, both by inventing at a greater rate and increasingly commercializing their inventions.

In 2003, British Columbia post-secondary institutions received $471 million in funding for sponsored research, up from $267 million in 2001/02 and $180 million in 1996/97. This represents just 11% of the total Canadian post-secondary research funding for 2003; Ontario received $1.6 billion (38%) and Quebec $1.3 billion (29%). However, BC accounted for 19% of all inventions disclosed and 25% of spin-off companies created in 2003. Of all the five regions – Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and BC – British Columbia had the highest return on investment in terms of intellectual property commercialization in 2003. The Prairie region was also a strong performer – generating 20% of disclosed inventions and 18% of spin-off companies from its funding, which amounted to 17% of total national post-secondary research funding.

In Canada as a whole, post-secondary institutions improved significantly in terms of commercialization over the period from 2001 to 2003, growing the number of inventions from 1,105 to 1,133, increasing income from intellectual property from $52.5 million to $55.5 million (a 5.7% jump), and adding 64 new spin-off companies for a total of 876.

Sources: Statistics Canada, (2004), Estimates of Canadian Research and Development Expenditures (GERD), Canada, 1992 to 2003, and by Province 1992 to 2001 and (2005), Estimates of Research and Development Personnel in Canada, 1979 to 2002 and (2005), Survey of Intellectual Property Commercialization in the Higher Education Sector, 2003.