Article content
The University of Windsor has received $300,000 from Intellectual Property of Ontario (IPON) to help transform and protect theoretical concepts during their journey from the classroom/lab to the commercial market.
Windsor was one of 10 post-secondary institutions to receive a share of the $2.9-million investment made by IPON last week to bolster innovation and commercial endeavors in the province.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Article content
“The University of Windsor and the Windsor-Essex community have a strong roster of inventors and innovators who develop new technologies that will shape how we live, work and play,” said Shanthi Johnson, the university’s vice-president of research and innovation.
“The support from IPON will greatly increase our ability to bring those inventions to the marketplace.”
The funding will flow through the university’s Office of Research Partnership, which is involved in technology transfer and industry collaboration aimed at commercializing products.
Among the university’s ready-to-market technologies is a wireless breathing-detection sensor.
The product could be used to help monitor patients at home who would normally have to go to a clinic and be wired up to be monitored.
Another example of university staff developing a new product is Windsor biochemistry researcher Siyaram Pandey using the extract from dandelion roots as a natural cancer therapeutic. An Alberta company is currently in the process of bringing the product to market.
The university’s director of research Tom Schnekenburger said the funding will build the strategic capacity and provide the resources and expertise needed to help Windsor researchers, local companies and entrepreneurs take their ideas to the next level.
Advertisement 3
Article content
“We’ve been very good at creating things and developing new ideas and getting them to the patent level,” Schnekenburger said.
“Taking the next step, how to commercialize, negotiate licenses, marketing resources and get it out there is a long, complicated process.
“That’s the part we’ve been missing.”
As part of that support strategy, the university will build IP training programs aimed at what it means to protect intellectual property and the value in doing that.
In addition, Windsor will partner with Brock University on internships and training programs.
The collaboration includes a technology transfer internship, providing students with insights into intellectual property’s role in enhancing the experiences of cross-border communities.
“We have some partnerships already with Brock and we have similar demographics and are cross-border universities,” Schnekenburger said.
“We each don’t have the resources of the Torontos, McMasters or UBC. This is a way we market stuff together.”
There will also be marketing and intellectual property educational opportunities for local innovators and the private sector.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“The university has a long history of research partnerships with the private sector,” Schnekenburger said. “Our automotive partnerships are fantastic.
“We also have health technology, agri-tech and bio-medical partnerships. This will help us across the board.”
Recommended from Editorial
In addition to protecting IP and getting products to market, Schnekenburger said the university also wants to explore a new approach that will have a more direct impact on the local economy.
“We want to see the invention teams spinoff into new companies,” Schnekenburger said.
“We’re hoping to see two of those this year. One is aimed at local industry and the other is health-medical therapeutics.”
Twitter.com/winstarwaddell
Article content
