A Canada-wide partnership to promote intellectual property education
Fourteen innovation support organizations from across Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at collaboratively strengthening intellectual property (IP) education for Canadian businesses, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
The agreement brings together federal and provincial agencies as well as technology accelerators from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and the Atlantic provinces, including New Ventures BC Society, Innovate BC, the Collectif d’Actifs en Innovation, Intellectual Property Ontario, Axelys, Communitech, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, MAIN, Innovate Calgary, Springboard Atlantic, North Forge, DIGITAL, Investir Ottawa, and Research Manitoba.
The signatories are committed to developing a common approach to IP education, establishing a national competency framework, creating shared educational tools and a national learning pathway, and exchanging best practices and certification processes.
“Canada draws its strength from its ability to develop, protect, and advance the ideas and technologies that drive our economy. Under this agreement, key IP stakeholders are committed to joining forces to create accessible awareness-raising tools. By working together, aligning our efforts around shared priorities, and capitalizing on the unique strengths and needs of our regions, we are building a more closely connected IP ecosystem and ensuring that innovation fuels Canada’s long-term prosperity, resilience, and competitiveness,” said the Honorable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Economic Development Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
By building on the complementary nature of regional ecosystems, this initiative aims to improve access to high-quality IP education and strengthen the growth and competitiveness of Canadian innovators.
“Intellectual property is a strategic asset that contributes to our prosperity and economic sovereignty. Because it transcends regional borders and different levels of jurisdiction, collaboration among organizations with complementary mandates in this field is essential to fully capitalize on our best ideas, make them more accessible, and better support researchers and entrepreneurs in commercializing their innovations,” added Jesse Vincent-Herscovici, President and CEO of Axelys.
For more information, see the press release (in French only)