Effective interactions between UBC research and external communicites support the Canadian innovation system, capitalize on the substantial provincial and federal investments in academic research, and help UBC to achieve a number of the goals and actions set out in  Place and Promise, the UBC Plan.

With respect to Place and Promise, the UILO’s operations resonate most strongly at the intersection of the University’s commitments to Research Excellence and Community Engagement, wherein specific goals are set to “increase the quality and impact of UBC’s research and scholarship” and become a “world leader in knowledge exchange and mobilization”. In working towards these goals, partnerships with industry and other communities also contribute to student learning by providing “an enriched educational experience” for UBC students.

In support of Place and Promise, the Office of the Vice-President Research and International  has published UBC's Research Strategy, which sets out a number  of actions relating to entrepreneurship, research partnerships, engagement of external communities and mobilization of knowledge.

In response to the changing global innovation ecosystem and the direction provided by the UBC administration, the UILO has refocused its activities in recent years to better serve the needs of UBC researchers and their industry partners. Traditional strengths in technology transfer and sponsored research are being complemented by a broader range of activities that highlight the value of ongoing multi-faceted relationships. These new directions have coalesced around:

• Industry Engagement, which builds on the more than 1,000 industry-sponsored research collaborations at UBC each year to further improve industry engagement with academic research;
• Knowledge Mobilization, in which traditional commercialization activities are part of an expanded toolbox of approaches to mobilizing knowledge generated by research activities; and,
• Entrepreneurship, whereby the UILO is extending access to its resources and expertise to all entrepreneurial students, faculty, staff and recent alumni. 

Crucial to the UILO’s evolution has been an environment and culture at UBC that recognizes the importance of local and global relevance. In 2010/11, UBC transitioned the UILO from a budget based on a share of licensing revenue to a fixed budget.  As a result of the stability this budget provides, and a removal of the incentive to focus on high financial value projects, the UILO has been able to continue to develop broader directions to create and nurture industry relationships, encourage entrepreneurial activities across the UBC community and support new, more open ways of mobilizing research outputs.

The transition to these new modes of university-industry interactions has unfolded over the last five years, and has involved significant changes to existing contractual processes and practices. Changes made include placing control of intellectual property decisions in sponsored research arrangements with the relevant researcher and the development of fundamentally new initiatives such as UBC’s Global Access Principles and entrepreneurship@UBC. While it is anticipated that by the end of 2011/12 UILO operations will be fully aligned with industry engagement, knowledge mobilization and entrepreneurship, the innovation, refinement and development of partnerships, mechanisms and initiatives is an ongoing and rejuvenating process.

By innovating its own practices, the UILO hopes to support the University to serve its communities by:

• Acting as a focal point for the engagement of the local community, industry, and alumni in the research enterprise;
• Facilitating the broad access to, and the dissemination, utilization and impact of UBC research;
• Capturing more of the value from UBC’s technology and research capacity for the BC community and economy;
• Serving the needs of the faculty and students and help them achieve their maximum personal potential and extend their impact; and,
• Continuing to support UBC’s role as a recognized leader in technology transfer and commercialization.