Protecting Canadian Innovation In The Cleantech Sector

Emerging technologies to mitigate environmental impact and even remediate harm that has already occurred, known colloquially as "cleantech", represent a potentially explosive growth opportunity for Canadian innovation.  Intellectual property rights, and in particular patent protection, can be an important asset for Canadian cleantech companies that can and should be leveraged as part of their business and growth strategy.  Patent rights can be valuable not only in excluding competitors and soliciting investment, but even in terms of marketing.  Patents can demonstrate that a company is on the cutting edge of sustainable technology.

Not only is increasing government regulation resulting in an increase in the demand for cleantech, there is also a concomitant increase in government and academic support for these initiatives.  Specifically, the Government of Canada is providing funding and academic support to advance Canada's cleantech sector.