On April 16, 2015, Mr. Jean-Francois Bédard – Industrial Research Advisor for the Québec Ministry of the Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MEIE) – announced that the Premier Brevet program (First Patent program) is projected to be launched in May 2015. This announcement was made in Montréal during his presentation at the International Intellectual Property Forum – Quebec (FORPIQ).
The Premier Brevet program was initially presented in 2013 as part of the Politique nationale de la recherche et de l'innovation 2014-2019 (National Policy on Research and on Innovation 2014-2019). We first wrote about the program here (link only in French).
The Premier Brevet program will likely offer financial assistance and technical assistance for Québec-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are filing their first patent application. One of the objectives of the program is to increase the number of patents issued to Québec-based SMEs.
No details were provided as to what changes have been made over the initial conditions of the program announced in 2013. We will continue to follow any new developments in this program.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
