Technology commercialization in Canada is still moving at dial-up speed, says a major economic think-tank.

But the Conference Board of Canada is also hailing work being done by a western-based technology commercialization network to accelerate that pace.

With members in the four western provinces and Northern Ontario, the WestLink Innovation Network Ltd. programs include getting more tech-smart managers into the workplace.

"What they do is almost spot-on in terms of helping develop commerce-savvy managers, people who know technology but who also know management and have entrepreneurial skills," says Brian Guthrie, the Conference Board's executive director for networks, innovation and knowledge management. "The whole idea of nurturing Canadian skilled managers is a great initiative."

Dave Olecko, Business Edge
WestLink president Derek Gratz is optimistic about the future of technology commercialization.

"That said, the reservation I have is that the numbers that come through WestLink and other such programs are low."

WestLink is a university-based network for co-ordinating activities, bundling technologies and sharing information between its members.

WestLink president and CEO Derek Gratz says his organization is passionate about getting new knowledge into the hands of companies so they convert it into newer products.

"We're going narrow and deep in a few sectors (such as) software, courseware (course modules) and medical devices," says Gratz.

WestLink is holding its annual conference at the Manteo Resort in Kelowna, B.C., at the end of the month. With the theme of tapping into the entrepreneurial mind, the conference will delve into extending the connections between science, research, innovation and entrepreneurs.

The event will draw people from throughout Western Canada.

One of the strategies offered by Westlink is called the technology commercialization internship program (TCIP), otherwise known as a "boot camp" that specializes in developing Canada's future technology commercialization leaders.

TCIP is a collaboration between technology transfer institutions, technology companies and venture capital groups. They partner and train individuals who understand both the science and business aspects required to bring innovative technologies to market.

The two-year 'boot camp sees the interns spending eight months in an academic technology transfer or an applied research office, eight months in a company commercializing technology and eight months in a venture capital or finance organization that invests in tech companies.

WestLink's TCIP has turned out about 35 graduates since its first intake in 2001.

What Guthrie likes about the WestLink initiative is that it produces "real live working salaried people" for the technology sector, as opposed to other internships that tend to be oriented more to the trades, such as the construction or energy fields.

"The program is great, the concept is great. The people I've met who have been through the WestLink program are impressive," says Guthrie.

But what he doesn't like is the limited amount of graduates in Western Canada and in similar programs in other parts of the country. "It is nowhere close to meeting the numbers needed for the Canadian economy. It's not making a dent."

Over the next 10 years, Canada could become a world leader in technology commercialization, says Guthrie, if it takes advantages of its strengths.

The Conference Board says by 2016, one half of all sales by Canadian businesses will come from new or significantly improved goods or services. These changes, the board says, "will be driven by a powerful knowledge base, a new 'culture of commerce,' and global best goods or services in niche markets" that require a highly skilled workforce and collaborative innovation networks.

"We're not there yet (in technology commercialization), compared to other countries. Programs like WestLink's bode well for the future," says Guthrie. "In terms of the process, Canada benchmarks reasonably well in generating new ideas and research. But as a country, we don't do as well in commercializing the idea or transforming the ideas into marketable products and making businesses out of it."

The challenges are to increase the numbers of tech-savvy TCIP types and to ensure industry compensates them appropriately, while also concentrating on sectors where Canada is strong, such as forestry, and applying those skills there.

"Canada as a country and the various players inside, including WestLink need, be more selective rather than spreading ourselves out too thin," adds Guthrie.

Gratz says this month's conference will feature keynote speaker Jacqueline Shan, president and chief operating officer at Edmonton-based biotech CV Technologies Inc., known for its COLD-fX, REMEMBER-fX and CELL-fX products.

"When she assumed the role of president, CEO and chief scientific officer, she immediately spearheaded a commercialization program which moved the company's market capitalization from a few million dollars in 2003 to more than $300 million in 2005," says Gratz. "Sales went from $1.5 million in 2003 to $33 million in 2005."

The conference agenda also includes presenters and speakers such as Kevin Fitzgibbons, executive director of the office of the national science adviser to the prime minister, venture capitalists from the Business Development Bank of Canada, and business development managers from universities and colleges heavily involved in research and commercialization.

Another speaker, Dawson Reimer, vice-president of operations for Winnipeg-based Medicure Inc., a cardiovascular drug discovery and development company, has benefited from WestLink's TCIP program.

Reimer will address some of the challenges faced by life-sciences companies in Western Canada.

"Even though we have big cities, we're far from the major centres for the industry, such as the east coast of North America or California," says Reimer, who will talk about how to develop a company in this environment. "Essentially what it means is that it creates limited access to capital and less access to experienced human resources."

Gratz, meanwhile, is optimistic that the future of technology commercialization is only going to continue to get stronger. He adds that Canada is taking the lead with its networked approach to technology commercialization.

"We (WestLink) didn't used to have peers. Now there's a (similar) network in Atlantic Canada, one in Ontario and one in Quebec," he says.

"WestLink has piloted a lot of things, like having a network running an internship program and a commercialization program - and that model has been picked up in other areas."

WestLink's members include a wide variety of academic and research institutions across the west, including the Alberta Research Council; the University of Winnipeg; the British Columbia, Southern Alberta and Northern Alberta institutes of technology; the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology; TEC Edmonton; and the University of Victoria's Innovation and Development Corp.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)