Title: Who owns the intellectual property and where? The case of Canadian biotechnology

Authors: Andrea Schiffauerova; Catherine Beaudry

Addresses: Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, 1515 Ste-Catherine Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 2W1, Canada. ' Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, downtown office, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3A7, Canada; Center for Interuniversity Research on Science and Technology (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O Box 8888, downtown office, Montreal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada

Abstract: In this paper, we examine biotechnology innovation in Canada. We make a profile description of Canadian biotechnology in the 12 most important agglomerations in terms of patenting quality and quantity, the nature of biotechnology activities, the properties of the assignees and their propensity to collaborate. The analysis of patent-owning organisations reveals a crucial role of the publicly funded research in Canadian biotechnology. We identify and compare the importance of well developed intellectual property policies and functioning technology transfer offices at universities. We find evidence of only very little cooperation that would result in the co-assignment of the intellectual property among organisations.

Keywords: intellectual property; patents; assignees; biotech clusters; biotechnology innovation; Canada; publicly funded research; technology transfer offices; universities; university research; R&D; research and development; cooperation; IP co-assignment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2012.050223

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2012 Vol.12 No.3, pp.147 - 169

Accepted: 13 Oct 2011
Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

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