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Flintbox
Where IP Connects: Social Networking for Research and Industry
Unlocking Canadian Economic Potential Through Web Collaboration
Challenge
Canada's universities and research institutions hold great potential for generating economic benefit but they need to connect with end-users of their research efforts and ensure that commercialization takes place. The transfer of information between researchers and industry is vital for the continued enrichment of ideas and innovation that lead to new developments.
Before 2003, many researchers had to shelve research advances and new knowledge because they had no way of making them available to users and buyers. Products with commercial potential or those that could serve the public good were not making it to the marketplace because of the high cost of commercialization.
Solution
The University of British Columbia saw an opportunity to make its technology transfer processes more efficient. The university's wholly owned subsidiary, UBC Research Enterprises, developed a non-profit project called Flintbox and built it into an international success story.
Flintbox - www.flintbox.com -- is an online platform to increase easy and open access to innovation by providing a Web portal and network for researchers to share their discoveries, research methods and findings. Flintbox provides easy-to-use tools to publish research and new technologies online for distribution and license. This enables universities as well as private research labs to better connect with end-users of their research efforts and promote commercialization.
Flintbox was launched in 2003 and now is in use at more than 60 institutions in Canada, with licensees from more than 100 countries worldwide.
Researchers can post a profile on Flintbox detailing their research activities, and work with their universities' technology transfer offices to license and commercialize their innovations. If the product is in its early stage of development the researcher can solicit feedback to continue to improve on their technology, or develop relationships with industry users who might become sponsored research supporters.
Flintbox benefits industry users by providing a central place to look for the latest innovations and research activities taking place in North America. A company looking for new technologies can subscribe to Flintbox and post a profile on its Web portal to let research organizations know what it is looking for. The company can search the site by topic to find information about projects posted by research members. If it finds something interesting, a Flintbox staff member can facilitate introductions between the company and the researcher.
Flintbox gives members the ability to have a sophisticated and branded storefront on the portal. Combining direct access to innovations at the source, with social networking and matchmaking activities, Flintbox is a superior platform for industry and academia, community and government, to exchange information and build relationships.
Results
To date, 5,329 licences have been issued for the development of products using technologies developed by researchers at the more than 60 institutions using Flintbox in Canada. The licensees come from more than 100 countries.
In addition, there have been another 3,500 downloads of published materials and more than one million visitors to the Flintbox portal.
Products that Flintbox licenses include a survey tool to assess the commitment level of new employees, and a computer graphics program for lung analysis that helps to treat emphysema. Before this computer program was developed, the only way to study emphysema was via a removed lung under the microscope.
In another instance, the BC Cancer Agency used Flintbox to get its software, enabling the assembly and viewing of genomic and comparative genomic information in a 3D environment, into the hands of research colleagues at other research institutes worldwide. This non-commercial distribution contributed to successfully sequencing the genome of the SARS associated corona virus.
"Flintbox is a tool that will help SMEs use the Internet to collaborate with the communities that develop new technology," says Andrew Bjerring, president and CEO of CANARIE. "The result is better, more efficient commercialization of Canadian technology."
Innovative Use of Technology
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Flintbox is designed as a three-tier Web application that employs Microsoft technologies and best practices to provide a low-cost, scalable and reliable Web-server infrastructure. Flintbox uses a mix of HTML, Microsoft ASP 3.0, Javascript, XML and cascading style sheets to enable multiple branded e-commerce storefronts with a consistent workflow. This approach has helped to increase user adoption through familiarity and reduce training and support issues.
At its core Flintbox is a collaborative project. UBC Research Enterprises worked with a development team at RIPE B2B to create the Flintbox platform, and that team is still instrumental in shaping the direction of the application. Industry partners including the Business Development Bank of Canada and LifeSciences British Columbia have helped shape the current release of Flintbox.
Flintbox also has channel partners in the user community, including Federal Partners in Technology Transfer, Westlink, Springboard, Univalor and the C4, who help shape the needs and direction of the platform. All Flintbox members help collaborate on technology transfer practices.
Flintbox is making an impact on how research and technology is embraced by the global marketplace. The Gosling Foundation in US has licensed Flintbox technology to set up a similar portal. In Denmark, a research organization called IDEA has also licensed the technology and has established a portal called IDEA Bridge for European researchers.
A 2007 CIPA Winner!
For its exceptional creativity in applying information technology to transform processes and bring benefits to its stakeholders, Flintbox has been awarded the 2007 CIPA Exceptional Innovation Award for not-for-profit organizations.
Technology partners
Microsoft Canada Co.
RIPE B2B Inc.
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