The Commercialization of Genomic Research in Canada

The commercialization of academic research has been promoted by North American policy makers for over 30 years as a means of increasing university financing and to ensure that promising research would eventually find its way to the marketplace. The following issues paper constitutes a reflection on the impact of the Canadian commercialization framework on academic research in the field of genomics. It was written following two workshops and two independent studies organized by academic groups in Quebec (Centre of Genomics and Policy) and Alberta (Health Law Institute). The full sets of recommendations are available upon request to the authors.