Alberta launches IP office to keep ideas & jobs in-province

Alberta has launched the Alberta IP Office under Alberta Innovates, with CAD $8 million in provincial funding for its programs and services.

The office is intended to help researchers, entrepreneurs and institutions protect and commercialise intellectual property created in Alberta, amid concern that ideas developed in the province are too often owned elsewhere and generate jobs outside Alberta.

It will serve as a central hub for intellectual property support across the innovation system, covering the full life cycle of intellectual property from awareness and protection to commercialisation. The aim is to turn research into products, ventures and local economic activity.

Operating under Alberta Innovates, the office will be governed by a board of directors and guided by nationally and internationally recognised intellectual property experts.

Ministers and industry groups presented the move as part of a broader effort to retain more economic value from research carried out in the province. Alberta has built research strengths in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, energy transition, agriculture, health sciences and advanced materials.

Those strengths have not always translated into ownership or commercial returns at home. Gaps in intellectual property awareness, protection and commercialisation have limited Alberta's ability to turn research into sustained local business growth, according to the province.

"Alberta has world-class researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators, but too often we give our IP away to other jurisdictions. The Alberta IP Office will help ensure that when great ideas are developed here, the IP is created, protected and commercialized here. That means Alberta-owned IP, Alberta companies, Alberta jobs and a stronger, more diversified economy," said Nate Glubish, Minister of Technology and Innovation, Alberta.

The office is expected to work with post-secondary institutions, founders, investors, inventors and technology transfer offices. It will also seek to embed intellectual property strategy into public funding programmes across Alberta's innovation ecosystem.

The launch comes against a backdrop of relatively weak patent activity in Canada and persistent foreign ownership of domestic inventions. From 2017 to 2019, only 1.1 per cent of Canadian businesses filed patents, compared with an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 5.9 per cent in 2016.

According to the province, more than 40 per cent of Canadian inventions are owned by foreign firms, with limited commercialisation in Canada. Alberta is presenting the new office as a response, focused on retaining control of patents, trade secrets, data and other intangible assets.

Intellectual property-intensive industries account for 41 per cent of U.S. GDP and 44 per cent of U.S. jobs, according to the province, with 60 per cent of the workforce employed as knowledge workers. The figures are being used to support the argument that stronger management of intangible assets matters for jobs and long-term economic growth.

Michael Mahon, chief executive of Alberta Innovates, said the organisation would work with the wider innovation community on the office's services.

"The Alberta IP Office is another step we are taking in our commitment to make Alberta the best place to build and scale IP-rich companies. We look forward to engaging our community of post-secondary institutions, founders, investors and inventors to design and deliver a high-impact suite of resources to further the positive impact of technology and innovation on the economy and further economic diversification to better the lives of Albertans," Mahon said.

Alongside direct support for innovators, the office is expected to provide Alberta-wide intellectual property intelligence. That work is likely to include data analysis, patent pooling, sector-specific opportunities, legal support, and market trends.

The initiative also won support from the Council of Canadian Innovators, which has argued for policies that help domestic companies retain and commercialise intangible assets rather than lose control of them to larger foreign groups.