Company matches researchers, industry
Published Monday February 23rd, 2009
Telegraph Journal
Network
Springboard speeds up commercialization of research done at universities, community colleges
Experts say that focusing on innovation in times of economic uncertainty is a key step on the road to recovery. A company that continues to fund research and development now will be better positioned to take advantage of the market when it recovers, while companies that don't could end up stagnant.
Stephen MacGillivray/Canadaeast News Service
Chris Mathis, knowledge transfer manager at UNB, left, in the lab with Dr. Liuchen Chang, notes that contracted research between industry and universities pays dividends to not only both groups but to the province.
Enter Springboard, an organization designed to speed up the commercialization of research being done in Atlantic Canada's post-secondary institutions.
"As a society, we want to maximize the use of the tremendous research assets that are in our universities and colleges, so that we get economic and social benefit out of those discoveries," said Springboard's executive director David Shindler.
Established in 2004, Springboard is a network of industry professionals, university liaisons and researchers. Its membership includes the 14 Atlantic Canadian universities and 4 provincial networks of community colleges, while the organization is governed by an 11-member board of directors, comprised of six university representatives, one community college rep, and four private-sector reps.
Shindler said Springboard, which has received about $12 million in funding from ACOA and the Atlantic Innovation Fund since its inception, is crucial to the economic development of the province.
Since a researcher's primary focus is on innovation and education, he said, they might not have the time to fully concentrate on commercializing their inventions.
Springboard acts as a support system, helping to match researchers with industry needs, find new deals and ventures, as well as assisting with patenting, intellectual property management and dialogue. It identifies projects that have promise and assists in the management and support of those projects as they emerge.
"The kinds of expertise that we put together in this kind of broad network really are essential to mediate the relationships between our companies and our higher education institutions," he said. "They're the key link between companies and our universities."
Each university has a technology transfer liaison - a person in charge of smoothing the relationship between their researchers and industry. This involves everything from identifying industry needs, to finding the right researcher, to helping simplify dialogue between the two parties.
"This is high-technology being applied and developed for industrial markets and industrial needs," said Chris Mathis, manager of knowledge transfer at the University of New Brunswick. "It should be considered a very clear part of economic development and sustainability."
In fact, the economic value of research in New Brunswick has been climbing since the 2004 founding of Springboard.
According to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada, the value of sponsored research in the province rose to $286 million in 2006 from $227 million in 2004. Income from intellectual property rose to $1 million over the same time, as did money spent on intellectual property management ($3 million) and research contracts ($90 million).
As well, the number of patents increased from 13 to 26, while the number of licenses filed rose to 12 and revenues received leapt to $850,000 from $400,000.
"I think it's significant, in a way, for New Brunswick," said Mathis.
"When we're taking something out of the university, most of the time it's a technology of some form. Automatically, that's telling you there's high-quality people that are able to stay, or come back to New Brunswick, and that's a significant thing. High-quality people being paid in the province means that there's a very nice net economic benefit to their being here."
Again in 2006, the number of spin-off companies created from commercialized university innovation rose to 77 from seven in 2004.
Mathis points to Green Imaging Technologies as an example.
The company, who now specializes in nuclear magnetic resonance technology for core analysis, began with Bruce Balcom in UNB's MRI research lab.
GIT was eventually created and now students coming out of the MRI centre could have an opportunity to work in the province.
But it's not only spin-off companies that benefit.
David Foord, director of corporate development for Atlantic Hydrogen, said that research contracted by the company to UNB helped improve their carbon-saving technology.
"It's been invaluable, that ability to work with the university," he said. "Out of that has come access to facilities, which is important, and access to people, which is the most important."
Foord, who previously held Mathis' job at UNB, said Springboard helps overcome two of the major obstacles to technology commercialization - attracting good teams of people, and attracting the financing.
Ultimately, Shindler acknowledges the importance of continuing to develop new technologies, even during an economic downturn, and said Springboard will help to do that by linking these two main drivers of innovation.
"This is exactly the time that we should be linking," he said. "Do the work now that positions companies, so when new investments are possible or expansion is possible, the companies are better positioned to take advantage of the recovery."