Breaching academias ivory towers
As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, we asked serial entrepreneur Jason Flick to share some of his insights. This is his next commentary and we welcome your feedback.
By Jason Flick
Past posts in this series have explored the complexities of turning intellectual property created in a university into a flourishing business. Some of the issues are specific to Canada, but, generally speaking, there is no reason why we can’t do more with what we have. My biggest complaint is that by my estimation – and I have also heard the number elsewhere – 80 percent of startups in Silicon Valley have a close working relationship with a university, while in Canada, the number is much closer to 20 percent. To be honest, I think that Canadian figure is optimistic. I would love to hear examples of productive relationships between universities, colleges and startups.
How do we fix this and why is it happening? I have invested a fair bit of time working with, and trying to work with, our academic institutions. Let’s start with why we so rarely lever their strengths to support startups here in Canada.
