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U of M earns high marks for inventiveness

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/25/2012 8:07 PM | Comments: 0

By Nick Martin

The white coats are having eureka moments galore in University of Manitoba labs.

A new national report ranks the U of M fifth and sixth among 29 major Canadian research universities in two crucial measurements of inventiveness.

The report by Toronto-based The Impact Group uses data from Statistics Canada and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).

The U of M regularly rejects the statistical methodology in some university rankings — Maclean’s, for instance — but is just fine with this report, vice-president of research Digvir Jayas said Tuesday.

"Certainly, based on what they are measuring. They are based on the AUTM survey," Jayas said.

The report says the U of M is fifth among universities in invention disclosures per faculty member and sixth in invention disclosures per dollars of research funding.

Trailing the U of M are some universities of which you may have heard: Toronto, British Columbia, Western, McMaster.

So — what’s an invention disclosure?

Jayas explained: "An invention disclosure is basically if a researcher has an idea they believe is commercializable."

The university’s technology transfer office then does an assessment, which could lead to a patent and/or a commercial application of the researcher’s idea.

"Last year, we had 63 disclosures," Jayas said. "Our (annual) royality income is around $2.2 million, which is shared between the university and the inventors."

One invention disclosure with commercial application is "a sensor to detect carbon dioxide from spoiling grain," Jayas said. "It would do early detection of incipient spoilage — you could dry or fumigate the grain" to save as much as possible.

Another researcher believes it is possible that a compound may reduce the multiplication of cancer cells, he said: "Almost from any field, you have disclosures like that."

Receiving such a high ranking could inspire more researchers to come forward, Jayas said.

"It tells the industrial community that U of M researchers are active," he said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

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