Let’s build an Innovation Box Policy: Ideas for Ottawa’s patent box consultation

Today, the Council of Canadian Innovators submitted a policy brief to the federal government with ideas for an Innovation Box tax structure. Historically, a Patent Box has been a way for companies to have revenue from patents taxed at a lower rate, as an incentive for companies to conduct generate and commercialize IP. 

In the view of the Council of Canadian Innovators, innovation box is a better term. It accurately conveys that smart IP strategy isn’t confined to the use of patents – there are many kinds of valuable IP, and policy should encourage the development and use of IP assets across firms and sectors.

In a nutshell, we believe that a Canadian Innovation Box tax structure can complement SR&ED. While SR&ED encourages companies to spend on R&D, an Innovation Box creates an incentive to commercialize R&D and generate revenue. 

The five key ideas that we are calling on the federal government to consider for a successful Innovation Box are:

1. Ensuring broad access for innovators with an inclusive approach to IP.
2. Focusing on developing high-quality IP assets with complementary IP education services in collaboration with provinces and the private sector.
3. Minimizing overhead and waste by aligning eligibility and administration with other federal innovation programs and incentives.
4. Keeping Canada internationally competitive with an innovation box rate that makes Canada an attractive investment destination. 
5. Using Canadian expertise to refine policy through a National Innovation and Tax Advisory Board to provide continuous feedback and advice on the design and functioning of the innovation box and other innovation-focused tax measures.

Click here to read the full document.

As a reminder, the federal government is currently consulting on both theScientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit, as well as a potential new Patent Box Regime. Making a submission to the consultation is as simple as sending an email, and we would strongly encourage you to make your feelings known. You can find more information on the specific process for SR&ED here, and for the Patent Box here.

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Media Contact:

James McLeod
Director of Communications
jmcleod@canadianinnovators.org
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About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents and works with over 150 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top senior executives behind some of Canada’s most successful ‘scale-up’ companies. All our members are job and wealth creators, investors, philanthropists, and experts in their fields of healthtech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Companies in our portfolio are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, and generate between $10M-$750M in annual recurring revenue. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.

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