A major role of the Industry Liaison Office (ILO) is to identify, protect and market inventions made during the course of university research. In 1998-99, royalty income for the existing 61 licenses and options totalled $1,440,825 which is an increase of 78 per cent over last year. To date, ILO manages 228 worldwide patents (pending or issued), 89 of which have been issued. In 1998-99, nine patents were issued to the U of M and examples of these include:
- Magdy Younes, internal medicine, was issued patents in Japan
and the United States for a lung ventilator device as well as one for
improvements in the delivery of assist modes of mechanical ventilation.
- Lorne Brandes, internal medicine, the Manitoba Institute of
Cell Biology and the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation,
was issued three patents in the U.S. for improved treatment of methods for
cancer and a fourth U.S. patent was issued for a method of treatment of
hormone-unresponsive metastatic prostate cancer.
- Jerzy Zawistowski, food science, received a U.S. patent for
detecting salmonella enteritidis and other pathogenic micro-organisms and
monoclonal antibodies.
- Trevor Maguire and Glenn Swift, electrical and computer engineering, and Richard Stanwick, community health sciences, received a Canadian patent for their electrical cord socket child safety device.
| Patents are one of the most important channels for technology transfer, and they form the basis of licensing activities close to 90 per cent of the time in the area of health and other disciplines. Corporate interest in research at the U of M has been enhanced by successful patent applications, and income from patent licensing allows the university to continue to pursue patents and market the results of world-class research to the corporate community. |
