On February 13, 2019, the Government of Canada announced via press release the launch of the Patent Collective Pilot Program, spear-headed by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
The Patent Collective is one of the key initiatives of the broader Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy, an $85.3M, five-year project intended to help Canadian businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs better understand, protect, access and commercialize IP. The IP Strategy was first announced by the Federal Government in 2018.
The Patent Collective is designed to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with their patent and other IP needs. It is intended as a new resource for SMEs to fuel growth and enable better leverage of IP. In turn, this initiative is intended to provide the Federal Government with better insight to support SMEs moving forward. While the program will target businesses for which professional services might not otherwise be accessible or affordable, it is still a paid service, and SMEs will pay membership fees in order to avail of its resources.
Allocated $30M over four years, the Patent Collective will be led by a third party who will be chosen through a competitive application process. The third party will create a non-profit organization under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and will work with SMEs in a designated sector to promote best practices in IP, provide patent intelligence and support, and assist in obtaining access to patents, thereby facilitating the removal of barriers to growth.
The successful applicant will be a Canadian entity that has assembled an experienced team with the requisite professional qualifications to deliver high-quality patent advice. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2019. More information is available in the Patent Collective Program Guide.
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