Technology Partnerships at CANMET: Managing for Impact

Summary of a Paper by the Director of CETC, Frank R. Campbell

Partnering with clients and other stakeholders has become key to our successful shift from a research organization to one specializing in identifying and exploiting technology opportunities.

Gone are the days when government research establishments were free to pursue esoteric ideas and be judged only by their peers on scientific merit. The same is true of government funding programs. In Canada, we now focus on the impact of technology investment by government for greater direct economic, environmental and social benefits. At CANMET, partnering with clients and other stakeholders has become key to our successful shift to exploiting technology opportunities.

CANMET is a government owned and operated technology development and deployment organization in the fields of energy supply and utilization, mining and materials, and is Canada's largest single R&D organization in these disciplines.

CETC (CANMET Energy Technology Centre) is the Ottawa-based energy entity of CANMET. CETC is unique within CANMET since it features an equal split between laboratory and program management functions. About 25% of its intramural budget is provided directly by external partners/clients, derived from fee-for-service, licensing revenue and consortia fees. Its extramural expenditures are matched on a two for one basis through cost shared agreements with partners. CETC's priority objective is to develop and deploy technologies that will reduce emissions, especially greenhouse gases, associated with energy conversion and use. The success of CETC, like that of any other organization, depends on its ability to satisfy the needs of its clients. However, as a governmental organization, it needs to continue to attract investment from its primary shareholder, the Canadian taxpayer; this requires that CETC demonstrate that its actions have had a measurable impact on Canada's environment (reduced emissions), on the economy (jobs created, export sales) and on well-being (health and safety).

Why are partners so important to CANMET? As primarily technology developers, we have zero impact on the marketplace unless someone else takes the technology, makes the required investments, takes it to the marketplace, and markets it appropriately. We have learned that the sooner partners are brought into the project and the more they are engaged in a project, the more likely they will be to be around when commercialization is in the offing. Having partners involved from the outset means better projects are chosen. Partners that are contributing financially take an active interest in direction and progress and help keep the project focussed and on schedule. Partnership allows longer term or higher risk projects than individual members could undertake alone. Partnerships improve the security of funding for a project. Partners involved in the technology's development are better prepared to make investment decisions and are able to accelerate commercialization.

What sort of partnership is appropriate for you? And how do you attract partners, and what sort of partners do you recruit? The answers are many and very much governed by the specifics of the situation. All rely on being well networked with your clients and stakeholders. CETC has many working arrangements, and undoubtedly a form of partnership that is right for you.

At CETC, we have learned many lessons about successful partnerships. To review these and other elements of this paper in more detail, you are encouraged to acquire the more extended version of this paper. In short, however, we have learned that to develop successful partnerships one must: look for partners that complement your capabilities; get your partners on board as early as possible; understand your partners (or partners) reasons for working with you; get your partners engaged; build trust into the partnership; develop a well-thought-through agreement from the outset; and negotiate up front how to handle confidential information and intellectual property.

To conclude: it is a truism in CANMET that there is no project without a partner. Partnership is a key element of CANMET's strategy to fulfil its mandate to develop and deploy technology to address energy and related environmental issues.

For those in the private sector, you don't need to be anxious about partnering with government technology organizations; you will probably find them more business-like than you imagined and quite flexible in terms of what sorts of arrangements can be negotiated. Try it; we think you'll like it.

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For more information on technology partnerships with CETC and CANMET, request:

"Technology Partnerships at CANMET: Managing for Impact"

by Frank R. Campbell, Director, CANMET Energy Technology Centre

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