Gisele Roberts is confident a Laurentian University-led innovation network, designed to raise awareness about intellectual property rights, has made its mark on Northern Ontario startups.

Announced in spring 2023, The Northern and Rural Innovation Cluster’s run, as a one-year pilot project, is drawing to a close.

Comprised of Laurentian in Sudbury, Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Nipissing University in North Bay, and Trent University in Peterborough, the goal at the outset was to create a pan-Northern roadmap for companies engaged in critical minerals, clean technology and battery electric vehicles to gain access to the professional expertise in the intellectual property (IP) field.

“Part of what we were trying to do was create a presence for IPON (Intellectual Property Ontario) in the North, because we don’t have access to a lot of intellectual property resources other than the regional innovation centres,” said Roberts, Laurentian’s director of research and innovation.

“We don’t have patent agents in our communities, so we deal with Toronto, Ottawa, and even (IPON) is in southern Ontario, so it’s great to have that connection now.”