Intellectual Property at the University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is active in commercialization. It is one of the few academic institutions in Ontario with a co-ownership IP policy and a flexible approach to supporting our inventors which is governed by our Inventions Policy. As part of the portfolio of the Vice-President Research and Innovations, the Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO) is mandated to protect the University’s interest in Intellectual Property generated by our researchers and to facilitate commercialization of these assets through industry partnerships or new ventures (Commercialization at UofT). The University’s commitment and dedication to commercialization are evident through support for patent costs and a technology transfer office (Innovations & Partnerships Office) that includes legal and patenting professionals, commercializing and licensing managers and eleven accelerator programs dedicated to both students and faculty at various disciplines and levels of commercialization.

Program Outline

LEVEL 1

Level 1 – IP Foundations is a three Module program designed to introduce learners to the general foundations of IP and related topics, including patents, trademarks, copyright, industrial design and trade secrets. This training is intended to provide a strong background in the basics of Intellectual Property (IP). Completion of Level 1 will be mandatory for startups occupying the ONRamp space and those seeking to access the UTEST program and may also be implemented by other university accelerators. In addition, students and alumni firms requesting university resources to support their attendance at conferences or tradeshows will also be required to have completed Level 1. For current University of Toronto students, successful completion of Level 1 will result in a Knowledge Creation and Innovation credential on their Co-Curricular Record (CCR).

LEVEL 2

Level 2- IP Strategies and Applications:  As a more in-depth look into IP rights, Level 2 is designed to be a Series of specialized Topics, each with a time commitment of 3-4 hours. Since every specialized Topic is unique, each Topic will be released with its own Quercus course shell and will be comprised of varying Modules. Modules will be presented in various slide decks with built-in interactive activities and a graded quiz and reflection survey at the end. Successful completion of multiple Level 2 Topics will result in multiple CCR credentials for current University of Toronto students.

The Prerequisite for all Level 2 Topic is successful completion of Level 1, IP Foundations.

You can proceed to the next page for the Learning Objectives and Outline for Level 1.