Tania Bubela
Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Canada
Tania Bubela is an expert in innovation metrics and empirical analysis of commercialization and IP policies. As a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and adjunct professor in the School of Business at the University of Alberta, she combines legal training with a PhD in biology and expertise in genetics and molecular biology. She provides advice for Government Health and Science agencies, including licensing and research agreement best practices for inter-institutional science projects and databases. She researches large collaborative science networks in genomics and stem cell biology.
Profile
“Elites managing innovation will typically manage it for their own advantage”
Tania is a pioneer in the field of innovation metrics – using data to evaluate policies on commercialization and intellectual property. Her expertise on genetics and molecular biology combined with her legal training has put Tania at the forefront of debates on issues like stem cell biology. Her work helps governments and international institutions achieve best practices in research and governance.
What is the biggest challenge facing innovation and IP at the moment?
“The bottom line is that we’re nowhere near where we thought we would be. We’ve got caught up in complex legal systems. The big hurdles especially are in the field of bioinformatics.”
What is one of the most influential books or articles you have read about innovation?
“I would say ‘Understanding Institutional Diversity’ by Elinor Ostrom, a book that provides a coherent method for undertaking analysis of diverse institutions.”
Where do you see the future of innovation?
“One hot spot will be the Beijing Genomics Institute which has already brought a flow of good students back from the US to China.”
What is an important lesson from your research?
“Developing countries are being left behind in terms of research capacity.”