Final Report of the Emerging Economy Task Force (the “Task Force Report”), and the Final Report of Outgoing BC Innovation Commissioner Alan Winter (the “Innovation Commissioner Report”). 

While the reports focus on providing concrete policy recommendations for the BC Government, those recommendations have implications for cleantech companies that are on a product development and innovation path.

Securing Your IP is a Path to Long Term Success

Both reports emphasize the importance of R&D spending in a world where economies are increasingly dominated by intangible assets such as intellectual property (IP). Capturing, protecting and leveraging intellectual property rights is a significant factor in long term success. Statistics Canada data shows that small and medium enterprises in Canada which have formal IP are two to four times more likely to export, and 60 per cent more likely to be high growth. 

Along the same lines, a European study on small and medium enterprises, undertaken by research centre Paristech Mines, suggested start-ups were three times more likely to be successful if they had one patent, and five times more if they had multiple patents.

R&D is exciting. You have an idea. You build a budget, put together a lab, hire support staff, purchase equipment. Your nascent company starts to move beyond the lab into scaling up and pilot projects, and you start to face mounting expenses. Financing is tough and budgeting is tight for startups. This is especially true in cleantech, where the industrial applications and large-scale infrastructure needs will often necessitate big-budget expenditures. It’s tempting to forego, stall or economize on your IP costs.

While the cost of securing your IP may be high, it must be written into your business plans and financial models right in the initial planning phase of your business or project and should not be delayed or minimized. If you don’t have IP secured early in the game, it will cost more and cause problems over the long term.

The Innovation Commissioner Report recognizes the cost of patenting as an impediment to securing IP rights. While lifetime patent costs are significant, they can be deferred and managed by leveraging tools such as provisional and PCT applications and by relying on grace periods if necessary, and value for dollar spent can be maximized by carefully weighing technological and commercial value for each innovation prior to filing, by considering trade secret protection as an alternative to patents, and by periodically reviewing and culling deadweight from a patent portfolio.

Securing IP rights in non-Canadian markets gives BC companies the flexibility to exploit those markets themselves and to license the right to exploit those markets to third parties, both of which can result in direct revenue and increased corporate valuation.