The federal government has announced a nearly $100-million commitment over five years to support the commercialization of lab innovations from Canadian universities.
SFU and UBC are leading the Lab2Market program’s West Coast expansion, which will be known as the Lab2Market Pacific Hub.
A total of $95.3 million in grants will be dispensed in varying amounts across four university-led networks: $32 million to Dalhousie University’s Lab2Market network, $24 million to Red River College Polytechnic’s network in Winnipeg, $22.9 million to the National Invention to Innovation (i2I) Network through Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, BC, and $16.3 million to the Sustainable Food Systems for Canada Innovation Platform at the University of Guelph.
The goal is to increase business investment in research and development (R&D) and put more Canadian-built products on the market to improve Canada’s commercialization efforts, which some experts have characterized as middling and lagging behind peer countries.
Terry Duguid, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, announced the funding commitment in Winnipeg on Wednesday. The grant money is a joint effort between the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
“When researchers move their breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace, they fuel economic growth, create good jobs, and keep Canada competitive,” Duguid said.
The funding will establish Dalhousie University as the headquarters of Lab2Market, a national entrepreneurial skills training program that was a joint venture between Dalhousie, the University of Toronto, and the non-profit research organization Mitacs.
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“The thriving startups already supported by Lab2Market are a testament to its success and a promise of the program’s future impact,” Jennifer Bain, Dalhousie’s interim vice-president of research and innovation, said in a statement. “This expanded program will equip even more of our brightest minds with the tools to create the innovation-driven organizations that Nova Scotia and Canada need to remain competitive.”
SFU and the University of British Columbia (UBC) are leading the Lab2Market program’s West Coast expansion, which will be known as the Lab2Market Pacific Hub. Participants will gain access to venture-building resources from Innovation BC and SFU Venture Labs, according to the universities.
Lab2Market received federal funding in 2020 to deploy its 16-week training program to support researchers looking to commercialize deep tech innovations. Having expanded its mandate since then, the program has produced ventures such as Myomar Molecular, a Halifax-based startup that makes at-home diagnostics for muscle degeneration.
According to the press release, the grants give researchers access to resources and expertise to more effectively put lab developments on the market. The initiative seeks to enhance entrepreneurial skills among researchers by providing financial assistance, mentorship, digital resources, and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
The grants are part of the federal government’s initiative in Budget 2022 to establish a national program to help researchers commercialize their work. Canada has struggled to commercialize domestic innovations at the same pace as other G7 countries, ranking second-to-last in the G7 according to the 2024 Global Innovation Index. Some policy thinkers have noted that low rates of commercialization are a drag on the national productivity rate.
Federal agencies NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC had previously collaborated for the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. A 2017 report evaluating the initiative noted that barriers to effective commercialization include access to early-stage funding, entrepreneurial skill development, and infrastructure to bring innovations to market.
Feature image courtesy Dalhousie University.