Some prominent Canadian universities, including McGill, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia, have drawn criticism for their researchers’ continuing collaborations with Chinese telecom giant Huawei – partnerships that transfer Canadian-funded intellectual property offshore.
But the case of Huawei is not an isolated one. Judging from our recent research, more than half of industry-directed intellectual property (IP) that Canadian universities generate is assigned to foreign companies. And not all those companies operate within the ambit of what could be described as friendly democracies.
Academics are the first to become turncoats.
