Statement on the Ontario Commercialization Mandate Framework
The province of Ontario issued its Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework in early 2022. The objective of Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework is to harness the intellectual property generated with the institution’s resources to achieve Ontario’s goal of ensuring that made-in-Ontario innovations benefit Ontarians.
Conestoga is committed to supporting Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework within the context of the role Ontario colleges play in applied research and innovation.
Conestoga is uniquely positioned to collaborate with industry partners to advance innovation and facilitate commercialization of intellectual property in Ontario that creates economic and social benefits for our communities. In particular, applied research activities taking place at Ontario’s publicly funded colleges in partnership with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) create innovative solutions to challenges being experienced in our communities in a variety of settings.
In order to increase innovation at the community and regional level, Conestoga will continue to rely on funding from granting agencies, primarily federal agencies, as the operating funding provided to colleges does not reflect the overhead costs of exploring, developing and overseeing applied research projects.
Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Framework provides an opportunity to advance the role of the publicly funded college sector in research and innovation. Conestoga College looks forward to continuing to support our partners in the commercialization of intellectual property to realize the full benefits for all Ontarians.
Annual Commercialization Plan (ACP) Statement: Year 1 ACP (2023)
Conestoga is a recognized driver of regional innovation through applied research. Conestoga’s engagement with industry and community research partners is motivated by the needs of our communities and a commitment to providing Conestoga students with high-quality, practical experience to accompany their education. Conestoga primarily partners with local small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and greatly values the opportunity to impact local communities, though we apply the same principles of engagement to international partners when opportunities for collaboration arise.
As part of the innovation ecosystem, Conestoga College is privileged to collaborate with regional research and innovation intermediaries. The College works closely with various organizations, helping to leverage synergies and create value for our partners. For example, the Conestoga Entrepreneurship Collective (CEC) maintains a space at Communitech to bring entrepreneurs into contact with tech-space professionals.
Conestoga College also reports on a variety of research metrics to organizations (Colleges & Institutes Canada, Polytechnics Canada) that measure the performance and impact of our applied research and innovation activities. The College looks forward to cultivating our relationship with Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON) as they grow in their capacity to assist colleges with commercialization through providing training, funding, and other critical resources.
Conestoga College will continue to develop and implement new policies, initiatives, and practices that will help faculty, students, and partners champion innovation and commercialization as a key component of the research process. This work will be an extension of our existing efforts, such as the development of the Commercialization Policy and the education of research students on intellectual property. Additionally, the work of the CEC will continue to provide useful resources to student and alumni entrepreneurs and businesses.
Update on the Year 1 ACP: (2023)
Since the development of the Year 1 ACP, Conestoga College has received funding from Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON) to support the development of our new Centre for Commercialization. The Centre for Commercialization has already begun to leverage the existing infrastructure of the Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship team to support commercialization activities for our research partners, regional entrepreneurs and SMEs.
Conestoga College is grateful for the funding and opportunity to deliver further value to our stakeholders within Ontario. Our future ACPs will better reflect the impact of the Centre for Commercialization and the growing role that Conestoga College has in Ontario’s commercialization and innovation landscape.
Statement: Year 2 ACP (2024)
Our newly approved Commercialization Policy has been a driver in increasing IP capacity and improving the commercialization outcome of research generated at the College for the benefit of Ontario. This policy provides a framework for the College’s role in supporting our industry partners to commercialize arising IP.
This has led to the creation, with support of funding from IPON, of a new Centre for Commercialization (C4C) to activate business innovation and support successful commercialization outcomes for regional small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), researchers, and entrepreneurs. The Centre is led by a commercialization and technology transfer expert who serves as an industry and ecosystem connector and is supported by a Project Coordinator who works cross-functionally at the College to align and mobilize resources in support of commercialization-focused projects. The C4C offers intellectual property (IP) services and resources directly to local researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to advance economic growth and competitiveness in Ontario. The C4C now provides a consolidated menu of IP services via a thoughtful integration into both the College and the regional innovation ecosystem.
To maximize the commercialization of IP derived from industry collaboration, C4C has created an IP disclosure form and established procedures to facilitate such disclosures to the College. A number of educational workshops were held for the researchers, staff, and students to ensure an understanding of the importance of IP disclosures and the related processes, in addition to numerous consultations where the C4C staff worked directly with researchers on determining when new IP has been created while providing one-on-one mentoring and training to address gaps in IP knowledge. For the first time, the College has collected 8 disclosure forms describing IP with high commercial potential that was generated with an industry partner.
Additionally, C4C provided IP consultations to industry partners as part of their IP service menu. IP identification and strategy development are core services provided by C4C and are the most often requested. These IP services provided to our industry partners have led to the filing of 7 patents and 17 trademarks.
To address the IP gap knowledge, we provided tailored IP education to our clients internally and externally. C4C supports clients in diverse sectors ranging from smart manufacturing, to agrifoods, to material science, to artificial intelligence. Every industry is unique and requires industry-specific IP knowledge. To date, we have hosted 6 IP workshops for a variety of audiences to enhance their knowledge on IP, processes related to IP or IP commercialization. In the future, we will work with our research centres to develop and provide industry-specific IP training modules.