IPIC Moderates Minister Bains' Announcement on Government Initiatives to Help Access and Leverage IP
IPIC Councillor and Chair of the IP Trade Policy Committee, Jason Hynes, moderated a panel discussion last week at the University of Waterloo where Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, announced a series of government initiatives to help entrepreneurs secure, access and use IP to build their businesses. Minister Bains announced the selection of the Innovation Asset Collective, co-founded by IPIC members Peter Cowan and Jim Hinton, to develop and run a patent collective. Under the Patent Collective pilot program, the new non-profit will receive $30 million to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in the data-driven clean technology sector with their IP needs, helping them expand their business and become more competitive. The Minister also launched ExploreIP: Canada’s IP Marketplace. Entrepreneurs will be able to contact the owners of more than 2,500 patents to negotiate a licence or explore opportunities to collaborate on future projects, giving these businesses access to groundbreaking research and innovation. Finally, the Minister announced that the law schools at the University of Ottawa, the University of Windsor, York University and the Université de Montréal will receive grants to develop or expand their IP legal clinic resources.
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