Ryan Wilkes

It is not often that an intern is involved with a company before it actually starts rolling, but Ryan Wilkes had just that opportunity. Seven years ago, Wilkes had just finished his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Manitoba. While in school, he worked on business plan development for start-up companies for some extra money. That taste of behind-the-scenes research wet his appetite for something a bit more in-depth and intensive. So Wilkes applied for the WestLink Technology Commercialization Internship Program.

His first placement was at Genesys Venture Inc., an incubator for emerging health and biotechnology ventures. Aside from launching the company's website, Wilkes also put together business plans for a number of promising companies, including Kane Biotech, now a leader in research and development of technologies and products that prevent and disperse bacterial biofilms.

"My biggest highlight was the work I did for Kane," says Wilkes. "After I did their business plan, I met with venture capitalists and helped securing financing. The company didn't exist before that business plan—it wasn't even on paper, so it was exciting to see it come to life."

Wilkes then went to Crocus Investments Fund, a venture capital corporation based in Winnipeg. At Crocus, which went into receivership in 2005 and is now defunct, Wilkes reviewed business plans and researched whether to invest in companies and their products. "Venture capitalists always get a bad rap and it was interesting to see how and why they invest in some companies and not others," he says.

Wilkes left Manitoba for his final placement at the University of Regina's Industry Liaison Office. He started the same time as the office's first director, so it was a learning experience for the entire staff. Wilkes spent much of his time networking—with administrators, researchers and industry to raise awareness about the office and its services. When his eight-month placement finished, Wilkes had the opportunity to stay on but opted to return to his own province. Soon, he was working at the University of Manitoba's Technology Transfer Office, where his duties included drafting agreements, license monitoring and secondary research to find suitable licensees. He stayed there for just over a year before moving to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre in Ottawa.

Today, a daily schedule might include licenses, collaborative agreements, confidentiality agreements and invention disclosures, all in the agricultural domain. For example, one project he recently worked on was a new oat variety different than anything previously created. One of the department's scientists produced the variety that "didn't fit the regular oat mold," says Wilkes, who helped get it through the registration process. "Most oats are covered while this oat is completely bald and does not have to be de-hulled. It was exciting to see this project through."

Wilkes admits he did not know where he would end up when he first started the WestLink program, but the idea of commercializing technology appealed to him. "The biggest thing about the internship was the networking," he says. "That was huge. Even now I still call up people from my class and ask questions.

"It is the kind of program that you can get out of it whatever you want. It was quite the adventure."