New research commercialization solution will facilitate collaboration between academic research and industry.
Vancouver, BC, August 28, 2006 BDC and Flintbox an online platform for marketing and licensing academic research in Canada are announcing a partnership to create a new research commercialization solution. Through the agreement, BDC is contributing funding to expand functionality of the Flintbox application and to initiate an outreach program facilitating relationships between BDC-funded companies and technology and research communities.The partnership will allow researchers and companies looking to invest in research to publish profiles describing research activities, commercialization interests, and technology development on Flintbox. BDC-funded companies will create profiles outlining the types of research and intellectual property they would like to access and they will be able to search and access profiles of research projects. "By partnering with BDC, we are creating an online collaboration system to foster interaction between research and industry, linking real-time research and ideas directly to the people who are applying them," said Stephen Smith, Flintbox Project Director. "Canada is well known for having world-class research undertaken by its academic institutions, but it has always been a challenge to get this intellectual property out of the research labs and to the market," said Robert Inglese, Vice President, Technology Seed Investments at BDC. "Flintbox 2.0 is an efficient way of marketing this research while creating value for BDC-backed enterprises who will benefit from the newly acquired intellectual property, a sure way to see their value increase," he added.Companies from BDC's portfolio will be able to search the database for research projects in areas they are interested in and create notification alerts of new developments or activities in their areas of interest. Researchers will be able to search online profiles for commercialization opportunities and contact companies through the Flintbox network. About FlintboxFlintbox is an online platform for marketing and licensing the outcomes of research taking place in and around universities. It allows organizations to describe and publish research projects online and associate products of this research for online license, purchase and download. In Canada, Flintbox is implemented at numerous academic institutions across the country, providing a national standard for disseminating Canadian research to the public and other organizations. For more information and a list of participating organizations visit www.flintbox.com. Flintbox was developed at and continues to be managed by UBC Research Enterprises (UBC-RE). About BDC Venture CapitalBDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of a company's development cycle, from seed through expansion. Its focus is on technology-based businesses with high growth potential that are positioned to become dominant players in their markets. Established in 1975, BDC Venture Capital has invested in over 400 firms to date. It currently manages some $550 million in venture capital investments in the life sciences, telecommunications, information technology, and advanced technology sectors, as well as investments in funds.
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For information:
Eva Boucher-HartlingMedia Relations ManagerBDC(514) 283-7929Contact by email
Lindsay StewartFlintbox(604) 678-9981 ext. 302lindsay@flintbox.com
