Research and development (R&D) partnerships or R&D contracts provide postsecondary institutions with avenues to apply their academic expertise. R&D partnerships are typically long-term arrangements that involve shared funding and jointly developed intellectual property, whereas R&D contracts are client-funded and may grant exclusive use of intellectual property to the client.
The 2023 Survey on Research Activities and Commercialization of Intellectual Property in Higher Education covers the reference period from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.
During the reference period, over four in five postsecondary institutions (86.5%) across Canada held R&D contracts, while just over half (53.5%) were in long-term R&D partnerships. Overall, there were 66,379 active R&D contracts and 49,431 active R&D partnerships.
