Intellectual Property and Commercialization

By partnering with Fanshawe, you can increase the commercialization potential of your innovative idea or product. Our available funding, cutting-edge facilities and researcher expertise can help make your R&D project a reality.

Intellectual Property Toolkit

Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), formerly the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), a national body representing Canada's colleges, institutes and polytechnics – has developed a web toolkit designed to help Canadian colleges and institutes identify and manage intellectual property (IP) related to applied research project activities with industry or community partners. This practical tool is designed to help colleges and institutes work together and encourage knowledge sharing. It also serves as an excellent introduction to IP for researchers and students. The toolkit was developed with the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

View CICan's webpage

Commercialization Mandate

The Province of Ontario issued its Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework in early 2022. The objective of Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework is to harness the intellectual property generated with the institution’s resources to achieve Ontario’s goal of ensuring that made-in-Ontario innovations benefit Ontarians.

Fanshawe College is committed to supporting Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Policy Framework within the context of the role Ontario colleges play in applied research and innovation. 

Fanshawe College is uniquely positioned to collaborate with industry partners to advance innovation and facilitate commercialization of intellectual property in Ontario that creates economic and social benefits for our communities. In particular, applied research activities taking place at Ontario’s publicly funded colleges in partnership with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) create innovative solutions to challenges being experienced in our communities in a variety of settings. These innovations will be a key driver for sustainable economic recovery, growth, and competitiveness in Ontario and will be critically important as we collectively emerge from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

In order to increase innovation at the community and regional level, Fanshawe College will continue to rely on funding from granting agencies, primarily federal agencies, as the operating funding provided to colleges does not reflect the overhead costs of exploring, developing and overseeing applied research projects. 

Ontario’s Commercialization Mandate Framework provides an opportunity to advance the role of the publicly funded college sector in research and innovation. Fanshawe College looks forward to continuing to support our partners in the commercialization of intellectual property to realize the full benefits for all Ontarians.

Confidentiality and Publication Requirements

As noted, responses to the sections above will not require public posting and will remain confidential to the Ministry and IPON. However, your institution is required to publish this section, which provides an opportunity to describe: (1) the specific approach your institution takes toward research and innovation activities; and (2) a summary of your Year 1 ACP that includes a brief discussion of key elements discussed above.

Stakeholder Consultation and Industry Insights

Each year, Fanshawe College conducts stakeholder consultation with dozens of industry, community, equipment, and public sector partners. Efforts are made to engage public, private and non-profit organizations in southwestern Ontario in order to identify challenges faced by businesses, government, and communities and provide innovative solutions that best serve community needs. In recent years, these market research and outreach activities have confirmed that the local food and cannabis industries need assistance with product development and testing, manufacturing process, and quality assurance. Access to new packaging technologies is also required.

Centers for Research and Innovation

Currently, Fanshawe College’s Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI) primarily deals with SMEs. For instance, we have established the Centre of Applied Research in Biotechnology (CARIB), which allows local businesses access to our unique capabilities that are ideally positioned to help emerging agri-food businesses launch new and improved food and beverage products. We are in the process of launching the Centre for Connected Building Technology (CCBT) designed to support SME’s using sensors, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) in the areas of building technology, manufacturing facilities, packaging, food processing, and agriculture. Our goal is to help companies develop technologies, validate solutions, and encourage adoption through collaboration with IoT platform providers who have established relationships in the sector.

Support for Faculty Researchers

CRI currently provides various training initiatives for faculty researchers to develop expertise in applied research. These include training modules, webinars, primers, and handbooks to support best practices in research. The suite of resources to date includes an online module on Intellectual Property at Fanshawe. Additionally, our research office provides funding to college employees who wish to gain research expertise by leading an applied research project as a Principal Investigator. Many of these projects are in collaboration with non-profit sectors and work to address many of the challenges faced by vulnerable and traditionally marginalized populations. As such, our college works to address challenges faced by society at large.

Training Students and Building Reputation

Training students through applied research has been an integral part of CRI’s operations since its inception in 2005 and continues to be a primary focus today. For all applied research projects, a research team is assembled featuring one or more faculty or staff researchers paired with one or more student research assistants (depending on length of project, scope of activities, etc.). Currently, all student researchers receive training at the time of onboarding, including health, safety, and environment orientation relevant to all Fanshawe employees as well as setting-specific training (e.g., laboratory safety).

Commitment to Growth and Collaboration

CRI is committed to building our reputation for delivering quality applied research projects, supporting economic development in the London and area community by growing relevant research expertise and infrastructure, and growing the culture of research within the College. We will utilize the supports offered by IPON and other external training providers to accomplish this.