VANCOUVER — Fourteen innovation support and advocacy entities across Canada have signed the Stakeholders in Intellectual Property (IP) Education Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), establishing a collaborative approach to strengthening IP education for Canadian businesses, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
The agreement brings together federal and provincial agencies, technology accelerators, and innovation-support organizations from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and Atlantic Canada to develop a more coordinated and accessible IP education ecosystem to help innovators better understand, protect, and leverage intellectual property.
Signatories to the MOU include New Ventures BC Society, Innovate BC, Innovation Asset Collective (IAC), Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON), Axelys, Communitech, Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), MAIN Accélérer l'innovation au Québec, Innovate Calgary, Springboard Atlantic Inc., North Forge, DIGITAL, Invest Ottawa, and Research Manitoba.
Through the agreement, participating organizations will collaborate to:
- Develop a common approach to IP education for Canadian businesses, including startups, scale-ups, and entrepreneurial researchers and students.
- Establish a shared national IP competency framework to organize educational content into consistent competency levels.
- Explore the development of common IP education tools and a national IP education pathway.
- Share best practices, curriculum approaches, certification processes, and participant program insights.
By aligning efforts across jurisdictions and organizations while building on the strengths, expertise, and networks of regional innovation ecosystems, the collaboration aims to improve access to high-quality IP education and support the growth and competitiveness of Canadian innovators nationwide.
Quotes:
Government of Canada
“Canada’s strength depends on our ability to develop, protect and scale the ideas and technologies that drive our economy. Through this agreement, IP stakeholders have committed to collaborating in the advancement of available, accessible IP education tools. By working together, aligning around shared priorities and drawing on the unique strengths and needs of our regions, we can create a more connected IP ecosystem and help ensure Canadian innovation contributes to Canada’s long-term prosperity, resilience and competitiveness.”
– The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
Innovate BC
“Canada’s ability to compete globally depends not only on developing breakthrough innovations, but on ensuring innovators understand how to protect and leverage the intellectual property behind them. By strengthening IP education and strategy across the country, we can help more Canadian companies capture and retain the value they create, scale with confidence, and build globally competitive businesses rooted in Canada. This collaboration is an important step toward creating a more coordinated innovation ecosystem that equips entrepreneurs with the tools they need to turn ideas into lasting economic impact.”
– Peter Cowan, President and CEO, Innovate BC
New Ventures BC Society
"New Ventures BC is excited to collaborate across Canada to build a stronger, IP-ready startup ecosystem. By sharing our resources, we’re creating a unified education pathway that empowers Canadian businesses to ideate, scale, and lead."
– Angie Schick, Executive Director, New Ventures BC
Innovation Asset Collective (IAC)
"Canadian innovators have no shortage of IP resources... what's been missing is a shared understanding of where a company sits in its journey, and a coordinated system connecting them to the right expertise at the right time. This initiative builds that vision: a common IP maturity framework that lets partners meet companies where they are and guide their growth, rather than leaving them to patch together one-off fixes on their own. For the ecosystem’s businesses and investors alike, that coordination means less duplication and more impact per dollar. IAC is proud to be one part of this coordinated path forward.”
– Mike McLean, CEO, Innovation Asset Collective (IAC)
IPON
"IPON is pleased to be part of this national collaboration to advance intellectual property education across Canada. By aligning the expertise, resources, and experience of organizations from coast to coast, we can help entrepreneurs, researchers, and businesses better understand and leverage intellectual property as a strategic asset.”
– Roula Thomas, Acting CEO, Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON)
Axelys
“Intellectual property is a strategic asset essential to ensuring a nation’s prosperity and economic sovereignty. In a field that cuts across regions and jurisdictions, collaboration between organizations with complementary mandates in this space is essential to making IP more accessible to better support researchers and entrepreneurs in creating value from their innovations.”
– Jesse Vincent-Herscovici, President and CEO, Axelys
Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
"Strong IP knowledge helps turn ideas into economic impact. CIPO is pleased to support this collaboration to expand access to high-quality IP education for innovators across Canada.”
– Konstantinos Georgaras, Chief Executive Officer, CIPO
Innovate Calgary
“Intellectual Property (IP) education is most impactful when it moves beyond simply teaching innovators how to protect IP and helps them understand how to use it to build stronger, more competitive companies. Through ElevateIP Alberta, we have been focused on making IP strategy practical, accessible and connected to real business & commercialization decisions. This collaboration gives us an exciting opportunity to build on that work alongside partners across Canada, sharing tools and expertise so that innovators, regardless of where they are located, have access to a more consistent pathway for understanding, developing and leveraging their intellectual property.”
– Kevin Dahl, Senior Director, ElevateIP Alberta, Innovate Calgary
Communitech
“Intellectual property is an important business asset, especially for technology companies looking to grow and compete globally. Through ElevateIP, we’re helping Waterloo Region companies better understand, protect and use their IP as they grow. Working with partners across Canada means more Canadian companies have the knowledge and support to build here, scale here and stay here.”
– Sheldon McCormick, CEO, Communitech
Springboard Atlantic Inc.
"Springboard Atlantic is proud to partner with innovation leaders across the country. By developing a common approach to IP education, we are improving access to high-quality learning tools and supporting the growth and competitiveness of Canadian innovators."
– Daryl Genge, President and CEO, Springboard Atlantic Inc.
North Forge
“IP should never be the thing that quietly holds a great Canadian idea back. By aligning 14 organizations across the country behind a shared approach to IP education, we are closing a gap that has cost too many entrepreneurs too much. North Forge is proud to stand with this group in making IP literacy a standard part of building a business in Canada, not an afterthought.”
– Joelle Foster, President & CEO, North Forge Inc.
DIGITAL
“As a pan-Canadian organization, DIGITAL brings together technology builders and buyers to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of technology solutions in sectors critical to Canada and the world. To compete globally, Canadian innovators need more than awareness – they need a strong foundation of practical IP capability. This collaborative partnership strengthens IP maturity across the ecosystem and aligns with our commitment to fostering strong IP and data capabilities so that innovators can build, protect, and leverage their intangible assets, compete globally, and ensure the benefits of innovation stay here in Canada.”
– Rhonda Barnet, Interim CEO, DIGITAL
Invest Ottawa
“Canada creates world-class ideas. We need to capture more of their value. That starts with IP education. When founders know how to identify, protect and leverage what they create, ideas become valuable assets, IP creates a competitive edge and protects that advantage, and innovation becomes jobs, investment, and economic growth. At Invest Ottawa, our three complementary IP programs help companies put that knowledge into action. By collaborating across Canada, we can multiply that impact. Because when Canadian innovators and companies understand the power of their IP, they don’t just compete. They win.”
– Sonya Shorey, President and CEO, Invest Ottawa
Research Manitoba
“Research Manitoba is proud to join organizations across Canada in this partnership to strengthen intellectual property literacy and education. By working together, we can empower researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators with the knowledge they need to recognize, protect, and leverage their intellectual property, ultimately strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Manitoba and across Canada.”
– Jennifer Cleary, CEO, Research Manitoba
French translation available upon request.
