The Innovation UBC team works with the inventors or creators of the innovation to assess the potential of each and generate a strategy to help the innovation reach its maximum impact.
Here’s what we look at in our evaluation process:
Whether the technology is patentable, or otherwise protectable by copyright, and the breadth, enforceability, and freedom to operate of resultant intellectual property is likely to be.
Any third-party rights that funders or other collaborators might have in the technology
The problem solved by the technology, and what the competitive advantage of the technology is vs. other solutions.
The market for the technology, including market size, potential receptor companies
Any regulatory issues that need to be addressed during commercialization
The societal impact of the technology, and its suitability for commercialization or mobilization according to UBC's global access principles
If the technology is determined to have a potentially high societal, economic, or financial impact best realized through commercialization, the Innovation UBC will work with the research team to develop a strategy that may include:
- Securing intellectual property protection (usually patenting),
- Identifying and obtaining development funding,
- Creating a marketing / investment strategy,
- Working with development organizations (e.g. the Centres for Excellence in Research and Commercialization) to advance the technology
- And ultimately, licensing or spin-off company formation.
There is a myriad of reasons why a technology may not progress past the assessment phase. If an invention disclosure is not considered for further advancement, it will be either:
- Returned to the inventor for further research if it is too early-stage for any type of dissemination, commercialization or intellectual property protection.
- Closed, if there is prior art that will prevent any form of commercialization.
- Under certain circumstances, where there may be some intellectual property, but little chance of commercialization success due to a limited market opportunity, the Innovation UBC team can assign the rights of the invention to the inventor(s), so that the inventor(s) can try to independently commercialize the technology.
If the technology is determined to have a potentially high societal, economic, or financial impact best realized through commercialization, the Innovation UBC team will work with the research team to develop their entrepreneurial pathway.
