Overview of Open-Source due diligence on For-Profit Industry Partners
While the majority of research partnerships are transparent and provide mutual benefits to all research partners, some activities by foreign governments can pose real national security risks. This will provide you with tools and a step-by-step approach to identifying these risks for research partnerships.
You know your work and how it might be used, including any dual-use potential, that might make it a target. Your understanding of the sensitivity of your work should contribute to the baseline risk that you associate with your work. You should keep in mind that risks can evolve, and you should continue to reassess how your work could be used to advance goals that are not your own.
You are not expected to become a security expert, but keeping these considerations in mind when conducting open source due diligence can help you make sense of your findings and draw nuanced conclusions. It is also important to consider the baseline risk associated with your partner(s).
The Due Diligence Process
Step 1: Determine Countries of Operations and Subsidiaries
- Identify the Countries of Operation and Subsidiaries: Use Factiva to search for the company’s registered information and subsidiaries worldwide. This tool provides details about the company’s structure, including its international footprint.
- Factiva is provided by the Leddy Library.
- Login using the UWindsor Leddy Library link. Go to the Companies/Markets tab.
- Enter the name of the Industry Partner you want to search for.
- Click on the Corporate Family to see the family tree of the company.
- Click on 'Include Branch Locations' and 'Expand All' and you should see all the operating units of the Industry Partner.
- Make sure to cross-reference operating countries with any Canadian Sanctioned countries and take a note of the same.
- The company’s own website can also provide information about operational locations.
Step 2: Investigate Strategic R&D Investment by Foreign Governments
- Use news aggregators like Google News to find press releases or news articles about foreign government investments in the partner, especially those concerning dual-use technologies. Use “company_name” to search.
Step 3: Sanctions Check
- Use the Open Sanctions tool to check if the partner is listed under any sanctions and/or if it is an entity of interest. Use “company_name” to search.
Step 4: Legal Proceedings Check
- Use CanLII for Canadian legal cases, to search for any civil or criminal proceedings involving the partner. Use “company_name” to search.
Step 5: Document all findings
- Document all findings and accordingly answer questions in the Risk Assessment Form.