Statistics Canada released new survey on university commercialization activity

A new report from Statistics Canada shows that income from university intellectual property (IP) reached $55.2 million in 2003, up 5.5% from $52.5 million in 2001. The same period also saw the number of disclosed or reported inventions rise 3% from 1,105 to 1,133, while 64 new spin-offs firms were created, bringing the total to 876.

The new data are derived from the recently released Survey of Intellectual Property Commercialization in the Higher Education Sector. The survey has now been conducted in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003. The report provides the most detailed information available on IP and commercialization activity within the university sector. But many gaps remain due to the inability of individual institutions to provide complete data. Reluctance to complete the survey was particularly high, for instance, with research hospitals, with 15 refusing to complete it out of 52 mailed out.

SPIN-OFFS UP

The services sector has seen the largest number of spin-off firms (516), dominated by R&D-based firms in the physical, engineering and life sciences (240) and computer systems design and related services (119). There were 99 manufacturing spin-offs and 21 in the wholesale trade sector. No industry information is available for 225 firms.

While IP revenue has experienced a modest increase, the cost of managing that IP has jumped 27.7%. Universities spent $36.4 million on IP management in 2003, compared to $28.5 million in 2001. Funds were provided from IP commercialization revenues (36%), institutional base funding (29%), external sources (25%) and institutional one-time allocations (10%).

Universities appear to do far better attracting research funding. Between 2001 and 2003, the number of research contracts increased 39% from 8,247 to 11,432, while their value rose 54% from $527 million to $810 million (see chart).

Clinical trials accounted for 20% of research contracts, followed by sponsored research contracts (15.6%). The largest portion (48%) could not be allocated as universities were unable to provide the necessary breakdown.

Sponsored research income (SRI) also showed significant gains in the same two- year period. SRI increased 33% from $3.3 billion in 2001 to $4.3 billion in 2003. A separate survey shows that SRI moves above $5 billion in 2004 (see page 4).

Of the 3,047 patents held by universities in 2003, 45% were licensed, assigned or otherwise commercialized. The report reveals that, of the patents obtained in other countries, 54% were commercialized, compared to 35% in Canada and 30% in the US.

Report author Cathy Read speculates on the discrepancy. “For reasons of cost, institutions may be less likely to obtain a patent in European or other countries unless they have already found a licensee,” she writes.

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

A provincial breakdown of SRI and IP commercialization reveals significant variations, indicating that some institutions and/or regions are far more effective in attracting fund and moving out IP.

In Ontario, 37 institutions received $1.6 billion in research funding, compared to 19 institutions in Atlantic Canada, which received just $186 million.

For IP commercialization, Ontario was home to the most spin-off firms (314), followed by British Columbia (216), Quebec (127), the Prairie provinces (216) and Atlantic Canada (63). The amount of money dedicated to IP management generally corresponds to the number of spin-offs.

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