IP Outreach Research > IP Use and Awareness

Reference

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Main Findings

In 2006, 72.7% of participating hospitals (unchanged from 2005) and 86% of universities (4% more than in 2005) were actively managing (identifying, protecting, promoting and/or commercialising) their intellectual property (IP). 39.4% of hospitals and 67.9% of universities had one or more central offices engaged in IP management.

Universities' and hospitals' 2006 operational expenditures on IP management were C$ 42.5 million (1999: C$ 22.0 million; 2001: 28.5 million; 2003: 36.4 million; 2004: 36.9 million; 2005: 41.5 million), of which C$ 12.4 million for patent applications and regular legal expenses. IP created at the institution was in the majority of cases owned by the researcher. Institutional ownership and "joint ownership of IP - institution(s) and researcher" were the second most popular IP ownership policies. When it comes to researcher requirement to report new IP created, a substantial increase in “always report” and a substantial decrease in “no reporting policy” was observed in 2006.

In the last 5 years, 54.7% of universities and affiliated research hospitals have filed a patent application (versus 51.7% in 2005, 51% in 2004, 51% in 2003, 47.4% in 2001, and 47.6% in 1999). In 2006, hospitals and universities filed 1.442 new patent applications (versus 1.410 in 2005, 1.264 in 2004, 1.252 in 2003, 932 in 2001, and 656 in 1999) and were issued 339 patents (versus 376 in 2005, 397 in 2004, 347 in 2003, 381 in 2001, and 349 in 1999). In total, surveyed universities and hospitals held 4.784 patents (up 20.8% from 2005). The percentage of patents commercialised amounted to 45.1% (up from 45% in 2003 and 44% in 2004, down from 48.4% in 2005).

In 2006, universities and hospitals executed a total of 437 new licenses (versus 621, 494, 422, 320 and 232 in 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001 and 1999 respectively) and possessed 2.038 active licenses. University and affiliated research hospital royalty income from licensing amounted to C$ 41.2 million (up from C$ 21 million in 1999, C$ 37.8 million in 2003 and C$ 38.6 million in 2004, but down from C$ 47.6 million in 2001 and C$ 43.7 million in 2005). Between 2005 and 2006, total income from IP increased from C$ 55.2 million to C$ 59.7 million (+8.2%). To date, universities and their affiliated research hospitals have created a total of 1.103 spin-off companies to commercialise their technologies, in most cases with a view to licensing technology only (39%; unchanged from 2005; up from 36% in 2004 and 37% in 2003; down from 41% and 46% in 2001 and 1999 respectively). The value of remaining equity in spin-offs was C$ 41.5 (virtually unchanged from 2005; down from 49.8 million in 2004, from 52.4 million in 2003, from 45.1 million in 2001, and from 54.6 million in 1999).

[Date Added: Nov 20, 2008 ]