Program guides start-ups in using IP to grow their businesses
Smart & Biggar has renewed its partnership with economic development agency, Invest Ottawa, with a focus on empowering Ottawa entrepreneurs and innovators to leverage intellectual property for business success.
Since the beginning of the partnership three years ago, Smart & Biggar has connected with over 200 Ottawa entrepreneurs through quarterly IP masterclasses and in one-on-one IP clinic consultations. Through the partnership, Smart & Biggar and Invest Ottawa have helped entrepreneurs use IP to grow their businesses, and in-turn contribute to economic growth and job creation in the city.
"Intellectual property plays an increasingly critical role for Canadian companies in scaling their businesses to compete both domestically and world-wide. Now more than ever, entrepreneurs need to understand how to leverage their IP,” says Elliott Simcoe, national practice group leader for patents and technology at Smart & Biggar. "Ottawa is a national hub for technology and innovation. Working with emerging companies to raise their awareness of IP issues and opportunities benefits our whole economy."
Nazim Ahmed, founder & CEO of technology platform, Creative Layer & digital imaging company CanvasPop, has worked with Smart & Biggar as a participant in Invest Ottawa’s Scale-Up Program. The program engages founders to create a scalable and globally competitive technology company.
"Our team was introduced to Smart & Biggar to evaluate what type of protection we would need from an IP perspective for our new technology platform, Creative Layer,” says Ahmed. “What I truly valued was the time they took to meet with our engineers and understand both the technology in depth and all the potential use cases for the platform. This deep analysis allowed them to deliver high quality work and achieve a positive outcome on the IP.”
The programs hosted by Smart & Biggar provide insight into IP topics such as asset valuation, strategy for software and brand protection.
