A $750,000 donation from RBC Financial Group, Canada's largest financial institution, will help create a new professorship focussing on commercialization of science- and technology-based innovation at the School of Management.
The professorship will explore an area that is crucial for the country’s economic health, said Kirk Dudtschak, vice-president, Eastern Region of Ontario, RBC. “Canadians must become much better at turning new ideas into new products, services and processes,” he said.
Each year, RBC provides financial services to over 600,000 small- and medium-sized companies, many of them emanating from the science and technology sector, noted Dudtschak, who is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at the School of Management. “We are always looking for ways to support the start-up and growth of these companies. We have created four commercialization funds in conjunction with universities and inventors.”
The National Capital Region receives the highest level of R&D spending per capita in the country, noted Micheál Kelly, dean of the School of Management. To make the most of the knowledge generated through these investments, “we urgently need a better understanding of the business characteristics and environments that drive successful commercialization,” he said. “The professorship will examine trends in the commercialization of scientific and technological research.”
“The University has a critical facilitative role to play in this regard,” said Rector Gilles Patry. Not only will this professorship generate new knowledge, but it will help the University to train “managers capable of applying this knowledge in innovative ways,” he said. “This project aims to help bridge research and the marketplace.”
A search will soon begin to find the best candidate for this position.
