Month: April 2025

Every year, American universities spend millions of dollars patenting inventions developed on their campuses. Big names such as Stanford and the University of California system lead the pack in patent activity, but hundreds of other universities are also trying to strike gold by monetizing intellectual property. The idea is simple: By investing in patents and selling or licensing them to industry, the university will profit. But in practice, this strategy rarely pays off. Indeed, the results of a recent study … Continue reading “US universities lose millions of dollars chasing patents, research shows”

Are you a researcher with an idea that could help solve one of today’s most pressing problems? A conference in Dubai this November will showcase research addressing a wide range of global social and environmental issues. And you can now apply to be involved – and present your work. Prototypes for Humanity, the organisation behind the event, will invite a group of senior academics to attend the three-day forum (November 17-20), which will promote innovative scientific solutions from around the … Continue reading “Dubai event invites researchers from across world to tackle global challenges – apply to attend”

As Canadians prepare to vote in another federal election, the country’s economy faces a sobering reality. As the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) notes, productivity is stagnating, our innovation performance lags global peers and high-potential startups often fail to scale. Despite these warning signs, innovation policy remains largely absent from political discourse. Canadians hear a great deal about how political parties are going to spend money, but little about where the money is going to come from. This … Continue reading “Canada is lagging in innovation, and that’s a problem for funding the programs we care about”