Guide for Faculty Inventors

The quest for knowledge through research activities can result in discoveries that have a practical application. Indeed, McGill researchers have developed many processes and products that have become part of everyday life or have become part of industrial practice.

But the path from idea to reality is often unclear or can feel overwhelming to potential inventors. How can you protect your idea? How can you commercialize it? What if you prefer to let someone else take care of the business side of things?

In order to answer these and other questions, Innovation and Partnerships (I+P) has revised its Guide for Faculty Inventors to help McGill researchers understand what their options are when it comes to realizing the full potential of their ideas.

In 2019, I+P reviewed 119 reports of invention and filed over 70 patent applications in Canada, the United States, and abroad. I+P signed almost 20 licenses and options in 2019 with companies ranging from startups to multinationals.

The following stories and links are a sample of how McGill-developed inventions have grown beyond the laboratory, with a little help from I+P and other partners:

1. A small startup company licenses technology developed at McGill, and is eventually acquired by major pharmaceutical company: Ambylotech and Novartis
2. A McGill Professor licenses his technology (co-developed with a researcher at Université de Montréal) to a biopharmaceutical company based in France: Domain Therapeutics
3. A US-based software company acquires the rights to use McGill-developed technology: Lifeline Software
4. A start-up company from McGill is acquired by a major international corporation: Carbicrete
5. McGill research into an orphan drug enables a startup company to attract new investment: Laurent Pharma

These are just a few examples of how research ideas can become the core of successful businesses. What will your invention lead to? Take the first step and download the Guide for Faculty Inventors today.