Commercialization of university research in Canada: An NRC/IRAP perspective

The National Research Council´s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) is one of several Government of Canada programs that seek to bridge the gap between invention and successful commercialization. In order to successfully bring an invention to market, several key elements must co-exist: 1) the invention itself, 2) a viable and addressable market to consume the invention, 3) sufficient funds to convert the invention into a product, 4) a viable business model with acceptable gross margins to generate sufficient profits from product sales and 5) the people with the passion to transition the invention into a product. NRC-IRAP´s considerable experience in supporting small technology companies has enabled it to more effectively identify and recognize the issues that these new firms must address before they can succeed in the market. This, in turn, has allowed NRC-IRAP to develop innovative support pillars that help new firms succeed.