Franco BerrutiProfessor and Director of ICFAR,

Faculty of Engineering

Integrating Research, Technology Development and

Commercialization

Canada's Innovation Strategy (2002)

• In February 2002, the federal government launched its Innovation Strategy to move Canada to the front ranks of the world's most innovative countries.

• “Innovation is the process through which knowledge is applied to the development of new products and services, and new economic and social benefits are extracted from such knowledge”

Canada’s Innovation Performance

• Innovation is the key to improving productivity. Canada's overall level of innovation capacity in 2000 was “near the bottom among the G-7”

• The Conference Board of Canada’s report,Performance and Potential 2001–02, rates Canada as a “relatively poor performer in innovation” across a range of indicators, including R&D spending as a percent of GDP, number of external patent applications and number of researchers relative to the size of our labour force.

Governments’ Actions

• R&D investments knowledge creation

• R&D investments skills creation

• Pro-innovation policies, business and personal

tax policies, matching funds for R&D

Universities

• Universities perform > 31% of Canada's R&D

• Universities are key players in Canada's innovation system (R&D and development of highly qualified work force)

• They are collaborating with Canadian firms to develop new technologies and new spin-off companies.

Universities

• Projected 30% increase in enrolment by 2015

• 30,000 new faculty members

• R&D requires funds for infrastructure, operating and indirect costs

• In 1999 Canadian universities and research hospitals – earned $21 million in royalties,

– held $55 million in equity,

– generated 893 invention disclosures,

– were issued 349 new patents and

– executed 232 new licences

– commercialization of academic research in Canada resulted in more than $1.6 billion in sales and supported more than 7300 jobs

– U.S. universities perform about 14 times as much research as their Canadian counterparts, but received 49 times as much licensing income

The New Vision

• Universities need to focus on areas of

excellence, train greater numbers of highly

qualified people in the skills required by

society, and more aggressively seek out

commercial applications for publicly funded

research.

• Key commercialization performance

outcomes should at least triple over the next

decade.

University of Western Ontario

• Top successes in CFI, ORF, Canada Research

Chairs, OCE, Graduate Scholarships

• Leader in collaborative research with industry

• Technology Transfer Advisory Council

• Western Innovation Fund

• More focused on technology transfer

–

• Research & Development Parks (London and

Sarnia)

Western’s Strategic Plan

“Engaging the Future” (2008)

• Be proactive in encouraging and supporting faculty engagement in collaborative research with industry

• Doubling the value of contract research work with the private sector over the next five years

• Establish clear and transparent policies and procedures for faculty and institutional interactions with industry, including clear descriptions of IP ownership, overhead and royalty expectations and partnership agreements

Western’s Strategic Plan

“Engaging the Future” (2008)

• Support and nurture the growth of faculty-based

start-up companies based at Western

• Doubling the value of licensing and royalty

income from Western-based inventions over the

next five years

University of Western Ontario’s

“9 Signature Areas”

1. Business

2. Environmental Sustainability and Green Energy

3. Health Education

4. Imaging, Literature and Cultural Theory

5. Materials and Biomaterials

6. Music

7. Neuroscience/Brain and Mind

8. Philosophy of Science

9. Wind Engineering and Natural Disaster Mitigation

Our Example: “Green Energy”

• $ 5M from Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation

• Currently, over 25 HQP in education and training

• Leaders of the Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation Network (ABIN) - $ 8.7 M from AAFC’s ABIP Program

• 2 NSERC-Industrial Research Chairs with FPInnovations (Forestry Biorefining) – currently hiring

• Tens of Industrial Research Contracts with OCE and NSERC matching

• Technical Service Contracts

• 1st Spin-Off BioEnergy Company:

Our Technology• Conversion of Agricultural Crops, Waste & other Biomass sources into Bio-Oil via Fast Pyrolysis.

No competition with food

Compact, mobile, easy to operate:

No need to transport biomass

Self-sufficient in

energy

Reduces chemical fertilizers

From R&D to Commercialization

LABORATORIES

HYDRODYNAMICS 1 kg/h PILOT PLANT

400 kg/h DEMO UNIT

Mobile Pyrolysis Unit

400 kg/hr

Keys to Success

…..and PEOPLE !