Turn your research into real-world impact
Your discoveries have the power to transform healthcare, improve patient outcomes, and revolutionize the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent disease. But breakthrough research alone is not enough—it must reach the right hands to drive real world change. By disclosing your invention or creative work, you take the first crucial step toward translating your innovation into tangible impact.
Disclosing your discovery
If you’re ready to disclose an invention, please complete the Confidential Invention Disclosure Form (CIDF) (PDF). For creative works such as questionnaires, scoring tools, or similar materials, use the Copyright Disclosure Form (PDF). Both forms require specific details about your work, and each includes a guide at the end to assist you in filling them out accurately.
Once your disclosure is submitted, the invention or creative work undergoes an internal assessment. Assessment against several fields such as scientific considerations, intellectual property considerations, and commercial considerations are reviewed and assessed. The Tech Transfer Office’s (TTO) assessment is presented to internal committee, IPCC, and appropriate protection is sought if deemed necessary. This protection can be a patent, copyright, design, trade secrets and trademark; or a combination of any of the above. If deemed commercializable, the TTO works with the inventors on next steps for further R&D, partnerships, and commercialization.
The Invention Disclosure Process
Disclosure
submitted
Internal
assessment
IP protections
put in place
Commercialization
plan initiated
When should I file a disclosure form?
The earlier the better! You should submit a Confidential Invention Disclosure Form (CIDF) (PDF) or Copyright Disclosure Form (PDF) as soon as you have a novel discovery, invention, or creative work with potential for commercialization or public use. This includes new technologies, software, biomarkers, medical devices, algorithms, questionnaires, or scoring tools. Disclosure is especially important before publishing, presenting, or sharing your work externally, as early protection ensures the best opportunities for securing intellectual property rights and industry partnerships. If you’re unsure whether your work qualifies, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) can help assess and guide you through the process.
Still unsure? Contact the TTO Team.
“I am grateful that SRI supports the entire arc, from discovery to clinical translation to commercialization. SRI provides the infrastructure and climate to enable fundamental basic biological discovery research, which plays a key role in making the initial findings that lead to technological advances that can later be commercialized.”
Dr. Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, Co-founder of Notch Therapeutics
The Commercialization Cycle at Sunnybrook
Transforming groundbreaking research into real-world healthcare solutions requires a structured and strategic process. Our Technology Transfer Office (TTO) streamlines this journey, ensuring that your ideas, inventions, and intellectual property (IP) evolve into impactful products, services, and companies—while minimizing the administrative burden on researchers.
Step 1: Disclosure of Discovery
The commercialization process begins when researchers disclose their invention, creative work, or discovery using the Confidential Invention Disclosure Form (CIDF) or Copyright Disclosure Form. This step ensures that innovations are properly documented and assessed for their scientific, intellectual property, and commercial potential.
Step 2: Protecting Your Invention
Once disclosed, the TTO and internal committees evaluate the innovation to determine the best intellectual property (IP) protection strategy. Depending on the nature of the discovery, appropriate protections—such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, or design rights—are pursued to secure the innovation and prepare it for commercialization.
Step 3: Seamless Agreement Management
With protection in place, the TTO organizes, manages, and facilitates the necessary agreements to advance the innovation. This includes contracts for evaluation, licensing, and startup formation, ensuring that researchers are supported without being burdened by administrative complexities.
Step 4: Access to Industry Partners & Commercialization Pathways
Bringing research to market happens through three key commercialization pathways:
- Option & Evaluation – A third party expresses interest in evaluating the IP before committing to a full license. This allows potential industry partners to assess feasibility before making a decision.
- Licensing – A third party licenses the IP to develop it into market-ready products or services, ensuring that discoveries transition from research to real-world applications.
- Company Creation – IP with strong commercial potential attracts investors, leading to the formation of a new company. Inventors may choose to found their own startup or partner with investors to scale their innovation.
Driving Meaningful Impact
By leveraging these commercialization pathways, your discoveries move beyond the lab to patients, healthcare systems, and global markets, creating real-world change. The TTO supports this process, ensuring that your research reaches its full potential while maximizing its impact.
If you’re ready to take the next step, disclose your invention today and let us help you bring it to the world.
Intellectual ProperTEA
The Tech Transfer Office (TTO) regularly hosts a commercialization information seminar, Intellectual ProperTEA, at the Bayview, St. Johns, and Holland Campuses. Contact the TTO office to find out when the next Intellectual ProperTEA seminar is being hosted.
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FAQs
An invention disclosure is a written description of your invention, idea, tool or concept in our template Confidential Invention Disclosure Form (CIDF). The CIDF has several questions that will help the TTO understand your invention better and help with decision making. It is very important to disclose your inventions well before you publish, especially if you are interested in filing a patent. You can find the CIDF template on Sunnynet or please reach out techtransfer@sri.utoronto.ca for the word version of the CIDF.
If you have a presentation, a draft manuscript or any such write up available, please append it to the CIDF. Such documents help the TTO understand your invention. It also helps with any patent drafting and filing activities.
We highly recommend disclosing your discovery or invention to the TTO if you believe that it covers a gap in the field, or solves a significant problem, or if there is potential commercial value. We encourage submitting a disclosure as early as possible as it allows time for assessment of the technology and its potential, and also determine any ownership issues.
The TTO will reach out to you to discuss the disclosure, and we may invite you to come talk about the technology at the internal committee meeting. This internal committee makes decisions on all disclosures that are submitted to the TTO. It comprises of VPRI and other senior scientists apart from the entire TTO.
We highly encourage our researchers and clinicians to discuss their discovery or idea with the TTO, even if the discovery or idea doesn’t fall within the typical scope of a patent. There are several other means of protecting any intellectual property associated with your discovery. The TTO can advise regarding submission of a disclosure after such a discussion.
All Intellectual Property developed at Sunnybrook is owned by Sunnybrook, especially if IP is developed using Sunnybrook resources such as use of Sunnybrook facilities.
Disclose your invention to the TTO, no matter the stage of the technology. All inventions or possible IP must be disclosed to the TTO.
TTO will assess the technology disclosed to see if Sunnybrook is interested in taking the idea forward or not, and possibly, apply for a patent. In the event, Sunnybrook is interested and files for IP protection then all costs are borne by Sunnybrook.
It is imperative that all external collaborators/scientists are disclosed to the TTO so that we can work on getting suitable agreements in place with those organizations to govern the administration and commercialization of that invention.
The inventors should also disclose if the development of the invention was funded through funds or grants by an industry partner or company, as IP obligations under agreement(s) with the industry partner may apply to the invention.
Yes! Any revenue (cash or non-cash) that comes in split as below:
- 40%: Inventors (we ask you to submit a revenue distribution form at the time of disclosure)
- 40%: Sunnybrook
- 20%: Program and/or Platform the inventors are from
It is critical that you have discussions with the TTO and/or disclose your invention well in advance of any submission of a publication (including papers, presentations, abstracts etc.), as patent rights are affected by prior publication of an invention. Not all countries allow submission of a patent if a paper or a presentation has been published already. Please inform the TTO of any imminent presentations, publications, speaking assignments so that we are able to file a patent, if applicable, prior to public disclosure of the invention.
If you are exploring development of a technology with an academic partner or an industry partner, it is crucial that you sign an NDA with the partner before taking the discussions forward. This will avoid any difficult conversations in the future as far as IP is concerned. They would be bound by confidentiality and your idea will remain yours.
If you are exchanging any material with the collaborator for your research, then you may need a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) to help facilitate the transfer of that material. This requirement also applies to exchange of any data between the parties. In such a case, you may need a Data Transfer Agreement (DTA).
All Sponsored Research Agreements (SRAs), Collaboration Agreements & Research Contract Agreements have provisions related to IP. These provisions may grant a sponsor rights to license, option or own some of the IP that is developed depending on the research plan of that particular collaboration.
The Technology Transfer Office (TTO) is here to support you every step of the way. We work closely with internal committees, including the Intellectual Property and Commercialization Committee (IPCC), to determine the best path forward—whether through patenting, copyright protection, trademarks, or trade secrets. If your innovation holds commercial potential, we collaborate with you to explore funding opportunities, industry partnerships, and commercialization pathways.
Your research is more than an academic achievement—it has the potential to make a lasting difference in healthcare. Take the next step today. Share your discovery, protect your work, and let us help you bring it to the world.