Myra Tawfik
New CIGI Paper Addresses Gap in Canada’s Innovation Strategy, Provides Basis for Online IP Course
12 September 2016 (Waterloo, Ontario) – The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)’s beta test of its first online course starts today and is based on timely recommendations from a new paper by CIGI Senior Fellow Myra Tawfik.
Tawfik’s paper, “Addressing a Gap in Canada’s Global Innovation Strategy”, outlines weaknesses in Canada’s intellectual property (IP) and innovation system and looks at potential solutions to improve it. Providing online resources, such as CIGI’s “Foundations of IP Strategy” course, is one tool Tawfik suggests to better position entrepreneurs to succeed in the global marketplace. Created in collaboration with Waterloo Region’s D2L Corporation, the course is designed as a self-study experience with modules that take the participant from identifying forms of IP all the way to developing the skills of an IP strategist.
“One of the most important points in my paper is the urgent need for Canada to build IP literacy” says Tawfik. “My colleague Karima Bawa and I co-wrote this course for a digital platform so that entrepreneurs, regardless of their geo-location, could have access to the IP strategy basics.”
Building IP literacy through online resources is just one of the 12 recommendations Tawfik makes in her paper. She also makes recommendations in two other key areas: building IP strategy expertise among IP lawyers; and ensuring start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises have meaningful access to affordable IP legal services at an early stage. CIGI’s International Law Research Program (ILRP) has a proven record in the latter area of research. The ILRP partnered with innovation hub Communitech in 2014, and with the Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship Clinic (LTEC) at the University of Windsor in 2015 to provide entrepreneurs with pro bono IP legal advice.
“This paper brings together the past two years of the ILRP’s IP and innovation research,” says ILRP Deputy Director Bassem Awad. “Myra’s paper provides a holistic look at Canada’s innovation machine, and provides practical solutions to improve it. It’s a blueprint for Canada and other nations hoping to succeed in the rapidly changing global knowledge economy.”
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For interview requests and other media questions, contact:
Mary Taws, Communications Advisor, CIGI
+1 519 998 7731
mtaws@cigionline.org
The International Law Research Program at CIGI is a 10-year initiative, jointly funded by CIGI and the Ministry of Research and Innovation of the Province of Ontario. As an integrated multidisciplinary research and mentoring program, the ILRP provides leading academics, government and private sector legal experts, as well as graduate students and post-doctoral candidates from Canada and abroad, with the opportunity to contribute to improving the global rule of law. The ILRP's mission is to connect knowledge, policy and practice to build the international law framework that supports international governance of the future. The program focuses on international economic law, international intellectual property law and international environmental law.
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world.