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The University of Western Ontario has a number of well-respected service-based research centres within the institution that provide research services to commercial clients across industries and around the world. Three of those centres – Western Wind, which has served industry since 1965; Surface Science Western, which has been in business since 1980; and the Biotron, which opened in 2008 – were all recently hit hard by the economic downturn.

“This is the first time they struggled to maintain their commercial book of business,” says Paul Paolatto, the Executive Director of WORLDiscoveries. So a new approach was required. “Worldiscoveries was invited to come in and work with the existing team to help refresh, re-market and revitalize these operations,” says Paolatto. “We did a business plan for each facility, looked at market opportunities and threats, as well as short- and long-term strategies. Together, we worked quickly to restore the value of these operations.”

In the case of Western Wind, Paolatto says, “The worldwide competition in wind analysis is now fierce.” However, Western has been able to set itself apart by combining its recent announcement of the WindEE Dome with other Western wind initiatives. By collectively promoting the WindEE Dome with the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, the Avian Wind Research Facility and the Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes (also known as Three Little Pigs Project), the university will soon be announcing a full service program under a new brand: Western Wind Research.

Similarly, Biotron was launched with high performance expectations, a promise Paolatto says can still be achieved. Despite the hard times it has felt because of the economy, Paolatto says, “The facility is increasingly realizing its mission, which is to focus on the impact of climate change and how we can best preserve our national eco-systems.”

In the coming months, WORLDiscoveries and the Biotron team will look to attract talent that specialize in wetlands, tundra, forestry and aquatic systems relevant to Ontario. Paolatto adds, “This focus will create new opportunities to influence public policy and make a real difference in the sustainability of our environment.”

Finally in the case of Surface Science Western (SSW), Dr. Leo Lau has been with the research centre off-and-on since 1983.

After returning to the centre from Hong Kong in 2005 to become Director, he brought with him a global perspective on the business that would focus on the industries that are very important to Canada – minerals, energy and health care.

Lau says SSW’s strengths are the skilled and experienced team, state-of-the-art lab facilities and its commitment to quality. “Our mandate is to promote industry-university liaisons, and to support common research interests in the surface of solids,” he says. “We ask broad and challenging questions in basic sciences and develop applications in areas that include, among other things, mineral processing, catalysis, lubrication, thin films, coatings and cell membranes.”

Unfortunately, the recession took a toll on many of their clients. “Revenue from industry dropped by 60 per cent in the recession, and last year our team took a pay reduction so that we could keep them together,” says Lau.

Once again, WORLDiscoveries was invited in to see if it could assist with SSW’s recovery. Together, WORLDiscoveries and SSW quickly identified the need to improve its marketing approach and refresh its market image. Thus far, the results are promising. “Surface Science Western re-branded their website and implemented a direct-mail campaign to reacquaint the market with their technologies and services,” says Paolatto. “More importantly, the team stepped up their efforts to provide high-value analysis at competitive prices, allowing them to rebound quite quickly,” he adds.

Lau sees the recovery. “We have moved strategically into green products and processes,” he says. “I am excited about solar cells. And with a new commercial partner now located with us in the Research Park, we are making tremendous progress on new environmentally sensitive polymer products. We attracted a Ministry of Research and Innovation fund to develop new polymer products using green methods. We want to develop new ways and technologies with Surface Science to reduce waste, energy and chemical consumption.”

WORLDiscoveries is proud of its role in helping commercially active research centres such as Western Wind, the Biotron and Surface Science Western rebound from tough economic times. The Business Development Office also sees such involvement as an excellent means of building new industry partnerships and introducing new commercially viable inventions to the world.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian men – one male in six will be afflicted with the disease in their lifetime. Incidence rates rise dramatically later in life, but this disease is now being diagnosed in men in their 40s.

Doctors say the best defence is to schedule regular check-ups. The challenge is that in the early phase, tumours can be hard to detect; one-third of the men with prostate cancer get a false negative test result, even though other test results suggest cancer is present. So the biopsy must be repeated. But the follow-up test, which relies on two-dimensional ultrasound imaging, does not ensure that a new test site has been sampled.

To help combat this deficiency in diagnosis, scientists at the Robarts Research Institute, under the guidance of Dr. Aaron Fenster, have pioneered a new, minimally invasive ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy and therapy. New 3-D image-guided prostate biopsy therapy gives a clear vision of the spread of the disease. “You eliminate the need for a radical prostatectomy and focus your biopsies and therapies on a specific region of the prostate,” says Sandy Vascotto, a Business Development Manager for WORLDiscoveries.

This technique, called focal therapy, gives a more precise target for the biopsy or treatment within the prostate and cuts down on side effects such as incontinence and impotence. “With the real-time monitor you know what you are doing and can spare high-risk areas like the bladder, urethra and rectum,” says Vascotto. “It is a dramatic improvement to the existing system.”

Earlier this year, WORLDiscoveries licensed the rights to the therapy and 3-D imaging capability to Cailforniabased Eigen Inc., a leading biotechnology company that specializes in real-time image guidance through biopsy procedures. “The Eigen Agreement represents the second-largest royalty deal in our history,” said Vascotto. “We look forward to working with this innovative company as it introduces Dr. Fenster’s technology to the world.”

It is with great with pleasure that I share with you our second Annual Report under the WORLDiscoveries banner. This Report, titled “Find Your Edge,” speaks to the continued transformation of all of London’s independent technology transfer departments into an integrated, full-service Business Development Office that will become a significant link between industry and London’s research community.

Since its inception 24 months ago, WORLDiscoveries has found an “edge” by dramatically expanding the profile and return performance of London’s research-driven commercial portfolio. The enterprise is ranked among the top three commercialization centres in Canada. WORLDiscoveries has also led the nation in the number of new spin-off companies created over the past two years, and can boast of an impressive list of private-sector licensing partners that span the globe.

And now, WORLDiscoveries has been invited to play a unique role in the restructuring, re-birth and revitalization of a number of commercially driven research centres across the city. This role, which is designed to improve the commercial returns generated by these centres, will also greatly assist researchers in forging new industry relationships and new innovations that can improve the commercialization prospects of the entire research community.

While these initial results are most encouraging, much work needs to be done, and the WORLDiscoveries team has no intention of resting on its laurels. In the coming 12 months, we expect to re-invent the way in which commercialization is conducted in Canada, and perhaps around the globe.

Later this year, WORLDiscoveries will be introducing a revolutionary new virtual program designed to dramatically improve the speed, interaction and commercialization process between industry and London’s research community. The goal of this new program, titled “Find Your Edge,” is to help our industry partners gain a material competitive advantage in today’s global economy through the rapid deployment of innovative tools and processes.

WORLDiscoveries will also be expanding its reach into this global market through its continued pursuit of new business partnerships in international markets such as Asia, Europe and South America. This past year, WORLDiscoveries invested a considerable portion of its time and talent into building its international profile and industrial partnership base with the intent of increasing returns and potentially creating new economic development opportunities at home. We are very pleased with the results so far, and look forward to generating further returns from these emerging global players in the future.

On the pages that follow, WORLDiscoveries is pleased to showcase our “Edge” by sharing with you a few of our commercial success stories over the past year. We continue to recognize and respect the fact that our success is reflected in the commercial accomplishments of our researchers and our industry partners. We have also highlighted our performance results relative to our initial objectives and take considerable pride in the knowledge that these results were achieved during a particularly challenging economic period around the world. Clearly, we are on the right track.

WORLDiscoveries will continue to build upon its initial promise, namely to move inventions to market. We take great pride in our achievements to date and look forward to delivering even more promising returns, reviews and results in the future.