Thank you for being with us for the seventh month of our new blog. In case you missed any, here is a recap of our posts from August, beginning with, in chronological order, the latest installments in our series, The Commercialization Ecosystem.
August 2: Getting university IP to market: How Canada falls short by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
August 4: Is your invention novel enough to warrant a patent? by David French
August 10: Getting university IP to market: Who needs to step up? by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
August 15: Getting university IP to market: Levering youthful ambition by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
August 22: 30 considerations for getting tech to market: Part 1 by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
August 29: 30 considerations for getting tech to market: Part 2 by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
August 31: File early, file often to accommodate changes in U.S. patent law by David French
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This is the 30th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
Six months ago we launched this “12-part” series to put forth ideas, yield practical insights and provoke thoughtful discussion about what it takes to get technology to market. Thanks in no small part to the enthusiastic response of our readers, we let the series evolve and grow as it would.
More than 50 posts later, including 30 we wrote plus another score of contributed articles, it is reasonable to say that we have cast at least a passing spotlight on just about every issue pertinent to such a broad subject. Dozens of individuals have shared their time and expertise with us as interviewees, subject matter experts and guest bloggers, and we thank them all.
But all good things must come to an end. While there will no doubt be the occasional post that will still bear the header, The Commercialization Ecosystem, we will be moving on to new series in a few weeks. But first, what have we learned about what it takes to get technology to market? In a three-part wrap-up, we will recap what we have learned that every entrepreneur and tech executive needs to know.
We begin today with that watershed moment.
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This is the 28th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
Last week we aired a laundry list of challenges that hinder the commercialization of university IP in Canada. Several of our readers weighed in with their thoughts on Canada’s challenge to fully exploit its global reputation for cutting edge innovation.
How does Canada fall short? Let’s recap the ways:
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This is the 27th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
The Canadian university system costs about $25 billion a year. The total income for all Canadian universities from licensing their intellectual property is around $50 million. Subtract the cost of managing that IP and you’re left with a net income of only $15 million. Getting technology to market is clearly not a big income stream for the typical Canadian university.
Those numbers come from The Way Ahead, Meeting Canada’s Productivity Challenge, by Tom Brzustowski, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management. While the book is a few years old, the overall trend illustrated by those numbers hasn’t changed. However, Brzustowski also quotes one of our past contributors, Doyletech’s Denzil Doyle, who puts these numbers in their proper context. According to Doyle, the IP income to universities represents only 2.5 percent of the new sales generated by products based on it. Do that math and you arrive at $2 billion — $2 billion in annual sales for the Canadian economy. That isn’t an insignificant sum.
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This is the 26th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
When we spoke back in June with Jon Bradford of Springboard, he made the valid point that the vision and drive of a few dedicated people is more important to the success of a startup accelerator than its location. Ottawa entrepreneur and community champion Scott Annan lives and breathes this philosophy. The founder of Mercury Grove and Network Hippo has set out to prove that, while location doesn’t matter, Ottawa nonetheless has significant advantages that can be levered to its advantage.
Last week, we spoke with Scott about his efforts to launch in Ottawa this fall a startup accelerator with a number of other private and public sector stakeholders. He talked about what this program hopes to achieve, the unique strengths of the Ottawa market and how the accelerator’s “hyper-local” approach makes it unique. Today we conclude with his thoughts on how this kind of initiative benefits everyone involved, what else it needs to be successful, and the roles its various stakeholders must play.
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Thank you for being with us for the seventh month of our new blog. In case you missed any, here is a recap of our posts from August, beginning with, in chronological order, the latest installments in our series, The Commercialization Ecosystem.
