Three things Canadian cleantech companies should know about protecting IP

Roch J. Ripley 

Hi everyone. My name is Roch Ripley. I'm a partner in the intellectual property department and Gowling WLG'sVancouver office. I'm going to spotlight for you today three things Canadian clean tech companies should know about protecting intellectual property or IP. First protecting IP, in particular by using patents has been shown to be a significant factor in clean tech company's long term success. Statistics Canada data shows that Canadian SMEs that have formal IP are two to four times more likely to export and 60%25 more likely to be high growth than companies that don't. Similarly a European study on SMEs suggested startups were three times more likely to be successful, they had one patent and five times more if they had multiple patents. Second, it's important for clean tech companies to budget upfront the money they're going to need to patent and protect the IP they create. Patenting is expensive, and there are ways to defer and spread out costs without losing legal rights. Having money budgeted from the outset will give you a tangible number to work with when you're evaluating each of your innovations in determining whether they justify patenting costs, or you should protect them in a different way. Third, international IP protection is important for successful exporting. In 2018, British Columbia exported $104 billion worth of goods and services to other provinces and outside of Canada, and that's equivalent to 39%25 of BCS GDP. For clean tech. In particular, other markets such as Europe may have regulatory regimes that make some clean tech more valuable there than here. Clean Tech support not only as we rebound from COVID-19, but also as the Canadian and world economies continue to transition to cleaner forms of energy. I piece the tool used in high value markets to ensure that clean tech companies are rewarded for their innovation. So ave a plan and get advice on how to use the international IP system to succeed.