Information For Business and Government

Services Offered to Industry and Government

Researchers at Simon Fraser University are active in forming partnerships with industry and government. Many SFU researchers have a good understanding of industry needs and develop applied technologies or are interested in working with companies to demonstrate a technology in an industrial application.

What the private and public sector gain by working with SFU:

    Ability to conduct essential research or pursue a parallel, perhaps higher risk/longer-term, path for product development - access to new ideas and solutions developed by SFU researchers;

    Access to specialized expertise and state-of-the-art equipment. - minimizes the investment needed to develop competitive products and reduces development time;

    Ideas for new products to complement a product line -- sometimes a company is not looking for a completed product but rather wants to tap into the know-how of researchers to implement a new technology or feature;

    Opportunities to License-in a University technology -- provides a company with important lead time in development and reduces risks in cases where an investment has been made in prototype development and patenting;

    Access to opportunities to invest in high technology start-up companies.

How does the Innovation Office Help?


Facilitation of Collaborative Applied Research and Development
    IO staff match companies and government organizations with researchers to conduct collaborative research on a grant or contract basis. Staff members respond to industry requests for research assistance and visit companies to determine their research needs or technical challenges. The IO identifies appropriate expertise at the University and negotiates the appropriate contractual agreements.
Identification and Assessment of Commercial Potential
    The IO identifies applications for University technologies and assesses the market. The IO assists the company in finding an SFU research partner, often by identifying complementary areas of research or technologies which are suitable for joint development or to speed up commercialization.
Investment in Commercially-promising Technologies and Spin-off Companies
    The IO invests in patent applications for promising technologies and provides funding to develop or test proof-of-concept inventions or scale-up bench research which may have commercial potential. Opportunities to invest in promising spin-off companies are also identified.
Licensing
    IO staff assist in determining the value of a University technology and negotiating commercialization agreements. Our standard license agreement terms are available.
Creating New Ventures
    When starting a new company around an SFU technology, the IO provides assistance in the development of a business plan, identifies outside financing and expertise in marketing, provides general business advice and help in preparing a business plan, and recommends potential financing options. Office space for new ventures is available in the Business Development Centre located at SFU's Discovery Parks and in the TIME Ventures Incubator located at SFU's Vancouver Campus. Examples of SFU spin-off companies and success stories are here.
TIME Business Centre

    The TIME Business Centre is a "business-class" facility, in a prime Downtown location (SFU Vancouver) , that provides drop-in access to a shared meeting and workspace to its members. more ...