Intellectual property (IP) is an asset that individuals and organizations use to limit competitors or gain the financial benefits of innovation. The history of insulin is commonly used as an example of IP—invented by researchers at the University of Toronto, the patent was initially assigned for only one dollar, allowing researchers and businesses to use that patent, and further develop insulin, at low cost. When the patent expired, organizations in the United States built on the initial patent and developed supplemental IP, further commercializing insulin.

On 22 September 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research (the Committee) decided to undertake a study on how the Government of Canada can better support the commercialization of intellectual property. During its study, the Committee held nine meetings between 7 March 2023 and 27 April 2023. It heard from 34 witnesses and received 12 briefs.

The Committee heard that while Canada has developed several recent initiatives to support IP—including a strategic IP program review—that Canada faces ongoing challenges related to IP.

These challenges include:

• the high cost of innovation and relatively low levels of available capital;
• establishing freedom to operate in increasingly complex IP environments;
• limited coordination between IP initiatives in Canada;
• the commercial development of university research results;
• the need for greater IP expertise across sectors, demographics and stages of innovation;
• foreign ownership of IP developed in Canada and subsequent concerns around national and global security;
• a lack of commercial development in key sectors;
• gaps in the copyright regime;
• a lack of data to inform strategic decision-making; and
• the under-representation of women and Indigenous peoples in IP and innovation.

Based on the testimony it heard, the Committee made 14 recommendations to government to encourage greater coordination and development of Canadian IP and commercialization activities.