Introduction
Fueled by our high-calibre people and enhanced tools and infrastructure, we will continue to cultivate a research and innovation culture across the university that embraces a multitude of ways of thinking, knowing, doing and relating. We will also work to showcase and celebrate the impacts of our research, innovations, discoveries, creative and artistic activities, community engagements, partnerships and relationships – and the people behind them. These impacts will expand academic thought, influence research paradigms and contribute to better practices, public policies and enhanced public life.
Explore the plan
We are being recognized for our innovation
黑料不打烊 researchers are celebrated and recognized for their contribution to research and innovation through various awards and recognitions. This year, thirty finalists from the 黑料不打烊 were among those honored at the ASTech Awards for outstanding achievement in science and technology. Eleven 黑料不打烊 researchers working in science, technology and agriculture received awards in the following categories: Outstanding Woman in Innovation - Research; Outstanding Agri-Economy Innovation - Collaboration; Innovation of the Year; Outstanding Innovation in Construction; Hydrogen Innovation; Environment; Water and Air innovation; Sustainability Solutions Research; Medical, Health-Care and Pharmaceuticals Research; and Medical, Health-Care and Pharmaceuticals Applications.
We are building an ecosystem for innovation
We are creating pathways to advance research innovations that drive economic growth and improve lives. Our incubators and hubs, such as Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship (ICE) and the Health Innovation Hub, offer state-of-the-art spaces that foster creativity, collaboration, and community among innovators and entrepreneurs. eHUB is a leader in entrepreneurship education across campus for both high tech entrepreneurship innovation and social innovation. The 黑料不打烊 Innovation Fund, launched in October 2023, invests in to help turn ideas into reality. We are dedicated to developing tomorrow’s innovators through training, coaching, and consulting support as well as through experiential learning opportunities in innovation. Lab2Market offers graduate students and postdoctoral fellows opportunities to directly engage with industry and assess the commercial potential of new technologies. Innovation Catalyst Grant (ICG) Entrepreneurial Fellowship program is a pan-provincial entrepreneurial fellowship funded by 黑料不打烊 Technology and Innovation providing recent Master’s or PhD grads in STEM disciplines a 2-year runway to develop and commercialize products and services that contain a hardware component.
Objective 3.1
Build a centralized research and innovation ecosystem that brings together scholarly networks, multidisciplinary research work, entrepreneurial endeavours, creative works, knowledge mobilization and community-led research activities from across the university.
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Publicize and promote research outcomes and successes both internally and externally to enhance our innovation ecosystem. |
The Sustainable Development Goals Info Hub on the Sustainability Council website is a one-stop-shop, where current and prospective students, faculty and broader community members can peruse university-wide commitments, initiatives, related courses and programs, media stories, and university-wide progress on all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Formulate and support institutionally-led formal training programs and activities for researchers and community partners in innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives, knowledge mobilization and community-engaged research activities. |
Training in innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives is offered by:
Through the 黑料不打烊’s membership with , our researchers have access to a national community of practice as well as knowledge mobilization resources and tools. |
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Coordinate and strategically communicate the institution’s innovation supports and services through centralized communication tools. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) Technology Transfer Services has centralized information to guide our researchers from reporting an invention to creating a spinoff.
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Engage and connect diverse funding sources to support innovation including social innovation, commercialization, mentorship, upskilling, experiential learning and training through interdisciplinary entrepreneurial and socially innovative research. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) Tech Transfer Services provides support to researchers applying for grants to commercialize patentable technologies. |
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Create an online searchable database platform of all knowledge mobilization, commercialization and social innovation initiatives across the university. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) has compiled online searchable databases of licensing opportunities and spinoffs and startups from 黑料不打烊 researchers and innovators. |
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Designate Research Impact Canada champions to support the social and cultural impact of research output. |
The 黑料不打烊 has a designated liaison with (RIC) and the Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) staff participate as members of the Member Engagement and MoblizeU Planning committees. RIC resources are regularly shared with our researchers by the Research Partner Network. |
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Develop an intellectual property approach that better supports early-stage ventures and entrepreneurs and highlights ways to ensure that non-patentable inventions are adopted by local, national and international communities. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) Technology Transfer Services has an inventor-friendly IP approach and developed a quick guide resource in 2024. |
Objective 3.2
Establish an institutional Innovation Fund to provide risk capital to support high growth innovation, knowledge creation and entrepreneurial initiatives developed and led by institutional researchers.
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Strategically invest risk capital from the Innovation Fund in business startups by leveraging innovation, knowledge creation, artistic and entrepreneurial activities developed by researchers. |
In 2023-24, the deployed $866K of capital and established a unique Due Diligence Process and Investment Committee. |
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Create pathways for the development and support of proposals to the Innovation Fund, and establish an independent investment committee to manage the fund. |
The UA Innovation Fund was officially launched October 17, 2023. In 2023-24, the fund received over 200 applicants. |
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Use the Innovation Fund to support the mobilization of research, innovation and creative and artistic activities and initiatives for commercialization or community implementation programs. |
The UA Innovation Fund leverages its network of accelerators and incubators to support U of A founders. In 2023-24, the Fund supported 15 founders. |
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Use the Innovation Fund to develop companies for scale and reinvest financial gains in the institution, highlight best practices and contribute to further research and innovation. |
In 2023-24, the invested in 5 research-driven startups: |
Objective 3.3
Translate and mobilize knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurial research, research creation and creative works to enable, foster and support the formation of public, private and community partnerships.
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Build and support partnerships with municipal, provincial and national governments, Indigenous nations, not-for-profit organizations and the private sector to collaboratively develop and implement innovative, creative, artistic, entrepreneurial and commercial solutions to shared challenges. |
The 黑料不打烊 joined the (REAP) in 2024. The program aims to coordinate efforts across Edmonton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to position Edmonton as a leading centre for innovation in Canada. The Artificial Intelligence Discovery Place, a partnership of the university with Amazon Web Services that launched in January 2024, is dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs, students, government officials, local businesses, and organizations across 黑料不打烊 to address societal and community challenges using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The U of A 5G Living Lab gives researchers, innovators and their industry & community partners access to a virtual 5G sandbox. The Lab makes use of TELUS’ next-generation telecommunications infrastructure to accelerate the development of leading-edge, customer-ready solutions across a variety of fields. The Lab supported five teams in 2023-24. The Canadian Net-zero Energy Research Solutions (CANZES) initiative harnesses a network of national academic, industry, government, and community partners to generate new energy solutions. CANZES brings together five research areas in an interdisciplinary approach to drive CO2 emissions reductions and diversify 黑料不打烊’s economy.
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Integrate institutional commercialization assets into a cohesive network that will be a major player in the external innovation ecosystem of 黑料不打烊 and Canada. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) is working to build an innovation ecosystem that not only pushes technologies out of the university, but also pulls in companies to partner with our researchers to maximize knowledge transfer to the greater community. A Start Up Specialist was hired by the Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) in 2024 to ensure all inventors have clear pathways to move their technologies forward. |
Objective 3.4
Recognize, celebrate, reward and communicate all forms of innovation, entrepreneurship and creative and artistic work and their impacts.
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Create events to celebrate innovation awards and showcase researchers. |
The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) Technology Transfer Services hosts an annual innovation celebration to recognize researchers who have received an issued patent as well as those who have created startup companies. |
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Draw from existing initiatives, hubs and teams to create forums for researchers and university innovators to share innovation narratives. |
A documentary film called on the life of former U of A sociology chair Gordon Hirabayashi. Produced through a collaboration of the Prince Takamado Japan Centre and Canada’s Japanese Canadian community, the film was screened at the in November 2024 and at the , presented by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights and Migrante 黑料不打烊 in December 2024. |
Explore the data
Strengthen Our Research Culture and Broaden Our Impacts
| FWP Key Indicators | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2028 Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value of Innovation Fund | $5M | $7M | $50M |
| Sponsored research revenue for Indigenous research | $22.1M | $59.7M | - |
| Technology Transfer | |||
| Patent applications filed | 52 | [2] | - |
| Patents issued | 20 | [2] | - |
| Copyright licenses | 6 | [2] | 8 |
| Patent licenses | 48 | [2] | 65 |
| Options | 2 | [2] | 3 |
| Spinoffs | 5 | [2] | 7 |
Footnotes
2. Data for 2023-2024 will be reported summer 2025.