Technology transfer and licensing – agriculture

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) grants licenses to organizations that wish to commercialize our inventions.

AAFC currently holds about 600 licenses with over 200 companies. For example, we grant sole rights to seed companies to market crop varieties developed by our plant breeders. Other intellectual property such as patents or copyrights developed by AAFC researchers can also be licensed to interested parties.

As 'Licensor', AAFC grants permission to the 'Licensee' to use the licensed property. A potential licensee will be asked to submit a plan for developing and marketing the technology. All business plans are kept confidential.

Our goal is to achieve our service standards a minimum of 80% of the time under normal circumstances:

• Respond to general inquiries made to our phone number or email address before the end of the next business day.
• Respond to a client's enquiry regarding posted licensing opportunities within 5 business days.
• Issue a draft Collaborative Research and Development Agreement for review 20 business days following receipt of all required documentation (work plan, budget, Science Director recommendation, completed risk assessment).
• Notify successful proponents 20 business days after the close of the Request for Proposal.