Competition encourages innovation – Telegraph Journal reports

By Codi Wilson – Telegraph Journal | link to original article

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation plans to help bridge the gap between private sector businesses and public research institutions by launching a competition that calls on New Brunswick-based companies to bring forward innovative and commercially-viable ideas.

The R3 Innovation Challenge offers small-to-medium-sized businesses the chance to win $50,000 worth of research and development services at a New Brunswick post-secondary institution or research organization by submitting a research project proposal that will positively impact the company and the province.

Two winners will be paired with appropriate New Brunswick researchers and the $50,000 in funding will flow directly through the collaborating institution. At the end of the project, the companies will own all intellectual property that has been developed in the 12-month time frame.

“The rationale behind this new competition is basically to create awareness among our businesses across the province that they have a unique opportunity to leverage the research capacity within our universities and community colleges,” said Calvin Milbury, president and CEO of the NBIF.

“One of our goals is to see an increased investment by the private sector in research and development. We believe that if we can help this happen, that they’ll be benefits to the province from an economic perspective because our companies will be more competitive, productive and generally more innovative.”

Milbury said often times it is researchers who approach businesses with ideas.

“What we see in most instances is a researcher has a great idea, has developed some initial technology but they don’t have the ability to commercialize it … the researcher is looking to work with an entrepreneur who can help start up a company to commercialize the research,” he said.

“What we would like to see is the businesses saying, ‘We have a great idea. We have innovation that we are developing but we need a little extra help.’ They could go to the university or the college and leverage the equipment, the talent and the brains that are there to carry out more work to further their business agenda.”

Greg Kealey, provost and vice-president of research at the University of New Brunswick, said private sector investment in research and development has been low and the university supports the NBIF’s overall goal.

“We are very interested in encouraging these type of partnerships. We think that this kind of monetary incentive that the foundation is offering should be extremely helpful in promoting those relationships,” Kealey said.

“Across Canada, the business investment in research and development by international standards is actually relatively low.

Federal government reports have identified a lack of business investment as a serious problem and one that is connected to the decline in Canadian productivity. New Brunswick is one of the least research-intensive provinces in the country. This is a problem that needs to be addressed and this is a good program that encourages more of these partnerships.”

The foundation is targeting small-to-medium-sized businesses because Milbury said those companies are the most in need of assistance with research and development funding.

“If you are a small-to-medium-sized business, you most likely have many ideas but don’t have time to pursue them all. But if there is one or two that you are really interested in, you could enter into this competition.”

The project could be the creation of a new product or service or the improvement of an existing one, Milbury added.

“Ultimately, what we are really looking for is something that benefits the business. At the end of the day, if it positively impacts the business, then there is also an impact on the province. So we are helping the economy as well.”

A selection committee, made up of NFIB personnel, businesspeople, and industry professionals, will evaluate submissions by considering the novelty of the proposal, the merits of the innovation, research challenges and potential economic benefits to the company and New Brunswick.

Interested companies must submit proposals to the R3 Innovation Challenge by February 28. Finalists will be invited to give a presentation in front of the selection committee on March 5th and winners will be announced at the third bi-annual R3 Gala on March 21st. For more information, go to www.nbif.ca.