Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON), a provincial agency that provides IP support and services to enable Ontario businesses and researchers to innovate and grow, has announced its new investment of $2.9 million to support innovation and commercialization projects at 10 post-secondary institutions across the province.
George Brown College (GBC) will receive $250,000 to build college capacity to support innovation and commercialization. This will be a joint effort between GBC's Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) and startGBC, a physical and virtual hub connecting students, alumni and community partners with entrepreneurship support, programming and services.
Research and Innovation enables industry and community partners pursuing research and innovation activities to develop new products, processes and services across a variety of sectors, including advanced manufacturing, agri-food supply and processing, and artificial intelligence.
"These funds will enable George Brown to offer meaningful and extended commercialization support to our researchers and partners," says Dr. Krista Holmes, Associate Vice-President. "Commercialization support bridges the gap between when our partners work with us and when they enter the market. We are so pleased to build our capacity in this area."
Funding to support commercialization
The funds will directly enable George Brown to provide access to commercialization expertise, leverage resources to enable commercialization and increase intellectual property and commercialization literacy among college research stakeholders.
"We're thrilled to extend funding to 10 new post-secondary recipients to support their efforts to build IP capacity and better support their researchers and innovators," Dan Herman, CEO, IPON. "This funding will help institutions across the province more effectively translate research into commercializable innovations, while ensuring the IP at their foundation is appropriately developed and protected."
Funding from IPON will be used to develop a college-based model for commercialization support, positioning colleges to better support our industry partners in capitalizing on the intellectual property generated from collaborative research and innovation projects.
Potential companies to benefit from this pilot program may include GBC students, alumni and new or existing GBC industry and community partners.
"With an eye to improving commercialization support across Ontario and beyond, we will be directly strengthening the province's innovation ecosystem," says Dr. Holmes. "We look forward to collaborating with other Ontario colleges to advance this initiative.
