How to get your whole company thinking about IP? It starts by creating an IP culture
What is IP Culture?
A culture of IP is a work environment in which innovation can thrive. In other words, it means upper-level management and employees work in tandem to promote an ecosystem where new ideas, concepts, and processes are welcomed. In this environment, diversity of thought is championed, and work is solution oriented. Lastly, in a culture of IP, employees understand their role in protecting their company’s confidential information and trade secrets.
What can you do to improve IP in your business?
You might be new to learning about IP culture or you might have some understanding of it but are looking for ways to increase IP knowledge. Regardless of where you sit on the spectrum, here are some suggestions to get you started on how to better protect your company’s IP.
- Providing your staff with IP education and training
Consider providing your new employees with IP training during their onboarding process. It sets the tone right away for how your organization considers IP and it will provide your employees with clarity and context for their work. Consider offering a refresher IP training for current employees as well. - Having the right internal and external IP support
Hiring IP service providers with the right experience and who understand your business is critical. Having your IP-related questions answered promptly and quickly identifying new inventions will minimize disclosures. Keep in mind that your employees will likely have questions about the patentability of their inventions, therefore having an internal employee responsible for IP can be very helpful, as your employees will likely need guidance. - Focus on your documentation
IP education is for everyone in your business. Having a clear IP policy also provides more clarity for your various teams. For example, when your marketing team understands the IP behind your products, there’s less of a chance that your “secret sauce” will be accidentally disclosed, and the same can be said for your R&D team.
At a higher level, it’s best to ensure that your employees are properly documenting IP. Investors look for IP documentation when weighing funding opportunities. Set yourself up for success early by implementing proper document processes and storage that will increase your business value for sale or merger.
Final Thoughts
Creating a culture of IP is an ongoing process that usually involves a combination of education, training, policy, and communication. Providing your employees access to education and tools to better protect your IP can help, however, your senior management must be actively involved in making the shift happen. To facilitate the process, consider choosing someone within your company to be responsible for IP and to execute your IP-related vision and goals. Remember: A culture of IP supports your company’s overall strategy and a strong strategy equals success.
IAC Members have unlimited access to similar educational material and content, as well as funding opportunities.
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Patent Landscape Reports
On a quarterly basis, IAC produces market intelligence known as Patent Landscape Reports. These are detailed and comprehensive reports (ranging for 100 – 130 pages in length), which provide data and patent information that identify gaps, trends, etc. to help you better understand risks and opportunities to make informed decisions as you scale and grow.
While having access to data and intelligence resources is important, the analysis and the utilization of that data is what provides value to allow for sound decision making and effective business planning. One way that IAC members will benefit from the Collective’s data and research is through Patent Landscape Reports, which provide a snapshot of the patent position of a specific technology or for specific market players.
Patent landscapes can help members understand the competitive positioning of their technology as compared to existing patent owners and market leaders, resulting in better R&D decision making, IP generation, and accelerated insights to guide an overall business strategy.
IAC’s team of experts will work with members to help them understand and best utilize the data to improve decision making and identify priorities based on the data.
Energy Storage

Industry experts, environmental advocates, and policymakers agree on the compounding effects of each misguided industrial attempt and inadequate policies on reaching net-zero carbon goals by 2030.
We need coordinated efforts and actions to realize our set targets to decarbonize the economy. Changes must occur across technology sectors and industries, policies, investments in renewing legacy infrastructure, and microeconomic industrial activities.
The report provides strategic insights, i.e. risks and opportunities, and valuable information to assist your business and IP decision-making.
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Data Centres

Data centres have become vital for the operation and continuance of service for any modern-day organization. They act as central hosts to modern organizations’ critical and, in some cases, proprietary applications and data.
A data centre centralizes many functions around IT operations and facilitates storing, processing, and disseminating data and applications.
This study is a useful block of information that helps with identifying protected IP, key players, technological trends, and gaps.
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Smart Cities

“Smart cities” and associated technologies offer one of the most promising ways to make sustainable growth a viable option, touching several aspects of human lives.
This study is a useful block of information that helps with identifying protected IP, key players, technological trends, and gaps.
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Smart Grid

Smart Grid is a highly active clean-tech sector, and our detailed landscape report captures the value chain activities in this sector through extensive patent and market research.
The report provides strategic insights, i.e. risks and opportunities, and valuable information to assist your business and IP decision-making.
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IAC’s Canadian Women in IP Community Program
As Canada’s IP leader, IAC understands that we must be pro-active and responsive to gender-based issues to eliminate unintended or unconscious biases within our organization as well in the way in which we offer our programs and services to women.
On December 3, 2021, IAC hosted a forum and round-table discussion focused on women entrepreneurs and Intellectual Property (IP), based on a report conducted in partnership with the University of Windsor. The study’s findings were based on interviews with female-identifying entrepreneurs, innovators, creators, and inventors throughout the summer of 2021. Through a lively panel discussion with the study’s authors and IAC team members, we shared the findings from IAC’s research study on the underrepresentation of women in the IP sphere.
Key takeaways from the research study and panel discussion have been front of mind for the IAC team as we work to create educational programming and gender-based supports for women-identifying professionals in the data-driven cleantech sector. The report recommended action in several areas, and IAC has already responded by creating a grant for our women-owned, -led, and –founded companies in an effort to lower gender-based barriers for protecting IP.
IAC has an ongoing commitment to our staff, member companies, and beyond to continue to look for new opportunities to foster inclusion and representation across all areas of IP Education & Strategy. For more information about our gender-based programming and Canadian Women in IP initiatives contact cwip@ipcollective.ca.
Note: The Eligibility criteria for this program include member companies led, founded, owned/co-owned by women, including cis and trans women, two-spirited, non-binary, gender-diverse individuals, and anyone who chooses to identify as such.
If you missed IAC’s inaugural forum on Women Entrepreneurs & IP or would like to view our study on the Underrepresentation of Women in the IP sphere here, you can watch a recording of the event or download a copy of the report here:
Inaugural Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & IP
On December 3, 2021, IAC hosted an inaugural forum focused on the results of our recent study in partnership with the University of Windsor on the underrepresentation of women in the IP system.
Study on the Underrepresentation of Women in the IP Sphere
The mandate of this study was to engage in a consultation process to better understand women’s experiences in navigating the IP system and, pursuant to the findings of the consultation, to develop and implement specialized education and support initiatives for IAC members in the data-driven cleantech (DDCT) sector.
IAC’s Grant Offerings
IAC Full Member Grant
This grant program is open to all Full Members in good standing with IAC.
- Awarded quarterly
- Access to a grant pool of $200K per round, with individual amounts ranging from $5K-$20K
- Ability to submit multiple applications; there is no limit to the number of funding requests you can submit
IAC Associate Member Grant
This grant program is open to all Associate Members in good standing with IAC.
- Awarded twice a year
- Access to a grant pool of $100K per round, with individual amounts ranging from $5K-$10K
- One submission per grant cycle
IAC Grant for Women in IP
This grant program was created in response to the demonstrated inequitable gender balance in the IP ecosystem. The funding is available to all Members (associate or full) who self-identify as eligible and are in good standing with IAC.
Note: The Eligibility criteria for this program include member companies led, founded, owned/co-owned by women, including cis and trans women, two-spirited, non-binary, gender-diverse individuals, and anyone who chooses to identify as such.
- Awarded twice a year
- Access to a grant pool of $100K per round, with individual amounts ranging from $5K-$10K
- One submission per grant cycle
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Discussing the state of IP ownership in Canada with IAC CEO Mike McLean
In a recent episode of the Digital Oil and Gas podcast, IAC CEO Mike McLean joined host Geoffrey Cann to discuss the state of IP ownership in Canada, as well as the importance of IP ownership in a digital economy.
To listen to more episodes from the Digital Oil and Gas podcasts by Geoffrey Cann visit: https://geoffreycann.com/podcast/
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