Ontario Strengthens Innovation with 900 Postsecondary Student Internships

On April 27, 2021, the Ontario government announced that they would support 900 postsecondary student internships to help businesses, start-ups and new entrepreneurial companies grow and protect Ontario made innovations. The announcement forms part of Ontario’s previously announced $39.5 million investment to create up to 8,000 paid internships for postsecondary students, postdoctoral fellows, and recent graduates.

The announcement responds to a few issues articulated in a report created by Ontario’s Expert Panel on Intellectual Property. The report noted that SMEs holding registered intellectual property rights are three times more likely to expand domestically. The report also noted that while a large portion of Ontario’s adult population has a postsecondary education, there is a lack of domestic industry receptors for postsecondary knowledge. As such, more should be done to match the needs of industry with the work of university researchers and knowledge creators.

Ontario’s support for 900 postsecondary student internships represents a step in the right direction in addressing the issues mentioned in the intellectual property report. Indeed, the internships will be useful to bridge the upstream knowledge generated by postsecondary institutions with downstream commercialization drivers, enabling Ontario to grow and scale up its intangible economy.

—
Trevor Wong
B.Sc., M.Sc., J.D.