The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the largest cancer centre in Canada and one of the top five cancer research centres in the world. With the goal of improving the lives of people affected by cancer, the scientists and clinicians at Princess Margaret are continuously advancing our understanding of cancer biology and discovering opportunities for new treatments, and enhancements to cancer care.
Translating research discoveries to achieve maximum patient impact (e.g. therapies/diagnostics/technologies/services) means validation of their safe and effective use, which requires significant financial commitment. This is usually achieved by working with a commercial partner and includes licensing of UHN intellectual property to allow its continued validation and development.
Historically, funding needed to support the development of early stage research or promising technologies has been lacking. The IAF had been established precisely to address this funding gap. Its objective is to accelerate research discoveries to a point where their commercial viability can be demonstrated, thus enabling initial stages of development of therapeutics/diagnostics/technologies/services that can eventually be used by patients.
IAF funding is made possible by the generous support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and is administered by Commercialization at UHN, who ensures alignment between IAF and UHN’s Intellectual Property Policy and actively participates in strengthening the business and commercialization aspects of IAF projects.
Background
The IAF has been established to advance innovative research with promising commercial potential along the path towards commercialization. The IAF program solicits and awards milestone based proposals of up to $250,000 in support of UHN innovations in anticipation of a future commercialization event.
Translational research activities considered eligible, but are not limited to:
• Prototype development
• Generation of in-vivo data
• Reduction to practice
• Proof-of-concept studies
• Clinical demonstration
• Scale-up required for clinical phase work
Objective
The primary goal of the IAF is to support the advancement of high potential research towards commercialization, in order to deliver advances in health care.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the IAF, the lead applicant must be both the principal inventor and hold an appointment with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Please refer to the below eligibility criteria.
The Role of Commercialization at UHN
The IAF is a collaboration between UHN researchers and the Commercialization at UHN team. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact IAFinfo@uhn.ca prior to submitting a proposal, for guidance on intellectual property and commercialization considerations.
Prospective applicants will collaborate with an assigned member of the Commercialization at UHN team to evaluate the proposed project’s eligibility for this program, and subsequently to advise and work with researchers on their application. The Commercialization at UHN team member will act as an internal "sponsor" and represent the proposal through internal prioritization processes until it is selected for presentation to the IAF Board. Proposal presentations to the Board will generally involve both the scientific leaders and the affiliated Commercialization at UHN representative.
