New program supports development of anti-cancer technologies

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) says it has enhanced its Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization program (IPDC), now called the IPDC Fund. The augmented program is designed to provide broader and deeper support for promising early stage technologies in cancer research.

“In the face of declining private institutional investment, the new IPDC Fund is designed to offer greater support for the most promising Ontario-based anticancer technologies,” said Frank Stonebanks, vice-president, commercialization and chief commercial officer of OICR. “It will help bridge the funding gap that too often threatens the development of many early-stage projects.”

A common bottleneck in the commercialization of innovative technologies is the scarcity of funding in support of early-stage development of inventions. The gap in funding between the traditional public granting agencies and private investors is often referred to as the developmental “valley of death.” OICR’s IPDC Fund is designed to overcome this funding gap.

The new funds makes a maximum of $1.5 million available over three years for each eligible project. This represents a substantial increase over the previous program and adds a new third year option.

In addition, any Ontario cancer-related intellectual property (IP) is now eligible for funding under the new program, an enhancement over the previous restriction to academic IP sources only.

More details are available here.