Federal Patents, Licences and Royalties Survey, 2019/2020
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Released: 2021-06-10
Income from intellectual property (IP) commercialization decreased to $20.5 million in 2019/2020 for federal government entities. This was down by nearly half (-47.4%) compared with the income reported in 2017/2018, the last period for which data were collected. The decrease was tied to a decline in running royalties and milestones payments, one-time sales of IP, and other IP income attributes.
Chart 1
Income from IP commercialization by federal departments and agencies
Federal patent applications and issuances rise
Despite the decline in income from IP, federal science-based departments and agencies initiated 442 new patent applications as a means to protect their IP in 2019/2020, up 20.1% from 2017/2018. This was the second consecutive rise in patent applications since 2015/2016; patient applications nearly tripled over that period.
The number of patents issued in 2019/2020 rose by almost one-fifth (+18.2%) to 214 patents, not quite reaching the record number of 243 patents issued in 2015/2016.
Overall, a total of 1,822 patents were in force or held by science-based departments and agencies in 2019/2020, down by about a third (-32.3%) from 2017/2018. This was the second consecutive period of decline.
New and active licensing agreements diverge
New government licence agreements (within Canada and abroad) decreased to 304 in 2019/2020, down by more than one-fifth (-22.4%) from 2017/2018.
By contrast, active federal government licence agreements (within Canada and abroad) increased 75.9% from 1,675 in 2017/2018 to 2,947 in 2019/2020, offsetting the declines recorded in the two previous reference periods.
Chart 2
Selected IP indicators
Note to readers
The Federal Patents, Licenses and Royalties (FPLR) survey is a biannual product. The last reference period for this survey was 2017/2018. The survey provides information on the activities of federal government science-based departments and agencies related to new instances of intellectual property (IP) reported or disclosed, to the number of patents, and new and active licences, and to income received from IP commercialization.
The FPLR survey became the measurement tool for federal IP disclosures in 2013/2014, replacing the Federal Intellectual Property Management Survey. This change followed the revocation of the Award Plan for Inventors and Innovators Policy in 2010, which provided a framework for rewarding inventors and innovators in the federal public service whose IP was used or licensed by federal departments and agencies.
Intellectual property is any creation of the human mind that can be protected by law. It includes inventions, works of literature, art, drama and music, computer software and databases, educational materials, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies, new plant varieties and know-how.
Intellectual property management refers to the identification, protection, promotion or commercialization of the institution's intellectual property.
Intellectual property reports and disclosures are the sum of invention disclosures and other intellectual property reports and disclosures.
Invention disclosures refer to the number of inventions developed by researchers and reported to the institution. Excludes copyrightable intellectual property, industrial designs, trademarks, integrated circuit topographies and new plant varieties.
Other intellectual property reports and disclosures comprise copyrightable intellectual property, industrial designs, trademarks, integrated circuit topographies and new plant varieties.
A patent is a document that protects the rights of an inventor. Patents are granted by the governments of countries. They assure the inventor of the sole right to make, use and sell his/her invention in that country for a certain period of time, for example, 20 years for Canadian patents.
Patent applications are the sum of new initiating and new follow-on patent applications.
Patents in force refer to patents held by federal science-based departments and agencies.
A license is an agreement with a client to use the institution's intellectual property for a fee or other consideration, such as equity in a company.
New licenses refer to licenses that were signed during the reference year.
Active licences represent the sum of all new licences plus all prior year licences still in force at the end of the reference period. The values for active and new licenses represent the sum of licenses executed within Canada and foreign licensees.
Income from intellectual property includes running royalties, license issue fees, software and database end-user license fees, and any other royalties.
Data for 2013/2014, 2015/2016 and 2017/2018 were revised with the release of 2019/2020 data. Revisions are due to conceptual differences in the definition of "other intellectual property reports and disclosures."
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; mediahotline@statcan.gc.ca).
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