狐狸视频

Stewart Aitchison (above) and colleagues James Dou and Rakesh Nayyar credit U of T's innovation policies and supports for helping them get their company ChipCare off the ground (photo by Roberta Baker)

Reuters: U of T is Canada鈥檚 most innovative university

High marks for research and entrepreneurship no surprise to innovation experts

The 狐狸视频 is Canada鈥檚 most innovative university and among the top 50 innovative universities in the world, according to a recent.

The ranking reflects the results of the annual innovation  of  the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), in which U of T led all Canadian institutions for issued patents and for startups formed in 2014.

U of T鈥檚 good name doesn鈥檛 surprise Derek Newton, executive director of the university鈥檚 Innovations & Partnerships Office. 鈥淯 of T has an impressive reputation for bringing cutting-edge discoveries to the world. And we鈥檝e also done an impressive job turning ideas and intellectual property into new companies and accelerating them into the marketplace.鈥

Nor does it surprise  of U of T's . Breznitz, an expert on the role of universities in innovation, says the Reuters results 鈥渋ndicate something that we all know, that U of T is one of the top universities in scientific research.鈥 And that research is often translated into practical benefits, she says. 鈥淯 of T patents extensively and our patents are used by industry.鈥

And it doesn鈥檛 surprise Stewart Aitchison. The former vice-dean of research for the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering benefited from U of T鈥檚 innovation policies and initiatives in 2009 when he and his colleagues James Dou and Rakesh Nayyar got their company ChipCare off the ground.

鈥淯 of T kept the ChipCare project moving,鈥 Aitchison says. 鈥淭hey made partnership connections, they supported us with funding for prototype development and they provided us with office space.鈥

ChipCare is a great example of U of T innovation, Newton says. The founders included both faculty and students. They developed a product 鈥 a handheld blood laboratory device 鈥 that provides results in minutes without having to transport samples to a hospital or laboratory. (Below: Aitchison holds the device/photo by Terry Lavender)

photo of hands holding ChipCare device

鈥淭his is a company using technologies developed at U of T that will be helping people in the developing world,鈥 Newton says.

The objective is not only to foster great ideas and inventions but to benefit society. 鈥淪o many U of T technologies can help make the world a cleaner, healthier, safer place,鈥 he says. 鈥淥ur goal is to see these ideas have an impact.鈥

U of T is successful because of its ecosystem of innovation support, Newton says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe in a single approach to innovation, particularly at a comprehensive university with excellent research programs in nearly every discipline. So we have the Innovation & Partnerships Office, MaRS Innovation and the , which supports nine campus-linked accelerators and helps students and faculty create successful companies.鈥

Breznitz agrees. 鈥淯 of T promotes innovation through its many incubation programs, its technology transfer office, innovation and partnership office, through its innovative teaching programs that combine social science with engineering, and its extensive and innovative work in community engagement, policy and advocacy.鈥

U of T placed 38th in the Reuters rankings, which are based on published academic papers and patent filings. Stanford was first, followed by MIT and Harvard. Besides U of T, only one other Canadian university made the top 100: the University of British Columbia, in 68th place.


 

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