Twenty-one Canadian universities announced this week the hiring of 64 researchers for top academic posts, with 48 recruited from U.S. institutions including Harvard, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); the remainder come from Europe, Asia and Australia. The hires are funded by more than 500 million Canadian dollars (about $364 million) from the Canadian government, part of a broader $1.2 billion investment in Canadian innovation announced last December.

A second round of 63 academics is planned for next year. McGill University hired six researchers, including Phillip Zamore, chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts, who will join its medical faculty. The University of Ottawa recruited Kevin Hall, a former U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) nutrition scientist. Western University in London, Ontario, hired Seth Guikema from the University of Michigan, starting in January.

The University of Toronto recruited six academics, including astrophysicist Sara Seager from MIT. At the Vancouver announcement, Mélanie Joly, Canada’s industry minister, called the effort the world’s largest talent attraction project. Officials cited U.S. funding cuts and policy changes under the Trump administration as factors driving researchers to leave American campuses.

Image: Delphotostock / Adobe Stock

Chris Fender has been named executive director of the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Research Foundation (NDSURF). The NDSURF Board of Directors approved the appointment. Fender will join the Research and Creative Activity leadership team, reporting to interim NDSU Vice President for Research and Creative Activity Heidi Grunwald. In this role, Fender will work with campus and industry partners to advance commercialization and economic development for NDSU researchers and will oversee the full lifecycle of technology transfer.

Fender previously served as senior manager for group strategy at plant breeding and seed company KWS Group, director of the Office of Technology Management & Industry Relations at the University of Missouri, and a research associate at Monsanto Company. He holds a master’s degree in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Missouri.

TechPipeline led the recruitment process on behalf of NDSURF.

Image: North Dakota State University

This is an excerpt from an article by Robert Lowe in the latest issue of TechInsight.

This summer we completed our biennial Practices and Policies Survey. Thanks to the over 150 respondents who participated in this round, we are able to compare how a wide range of technology transfer activities have been changing over the prior 24 months. Certainly a key area has been shifts in office policies. We explore those trends from the survey results in this article.

To be sure, we have been publishing Return to Office (RTO) articles highlighting both policy shifts and staff perceptions each fall. But, this year feels different.

First, there are more open positions in 2026 than in recent years, and we have taken note that a larger share of these openings require in-office minimums than in years past. Meanwhile, we have spoken to job seekers who moved out-of-state during COVID and now either need to move back to campus or find a local opportunity.

While the article below focuses purely on the survey data, we included a companion article in this issue where we interview a range of technology transfer professionals about how their campus is approaching “back to office” practices. Check out “Where Do We Work in 2026? Everywhere.” for the stories behind the data.

But, Do I Still Have to Come Into the Office?

Our first survey question explores how different institutions are treating remote and in-office policy requirements. The policies across the US are widespread, as illustrated in Figure 1 below. Only one-quarter of institutions require 3 days and 23% require 2 days.

However, the rest of the world (ROW) including Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe more squarely have settled on three days in-office as a requirement. Notably, Canadian institutions reported similar policies to the ROW respondents.

About 18% of US institutions report “fully back in the office”, similar to 16% of respondents in 2024. However, the number of offices that have embraced fully remote staff is up significantly: 18% of US offices are still allowing fully remote options, up from just 4% in 2024.

Still, some offices are not wholly inflexible: almost one-fifth of respondents did note that their offices maintain multiple policies based on certain roles, such as operations and finance, as well as management discretion for individual circumstances.

This complete article is available to TechInsight subscribers here.

TechInsight is a monthly newsletter bringing you in-depth articles on technology transfer and corporate engagement concepts and issues. Subscribe today →

Universities are expanding industry-sponsored research partnerships as federal funding priorities shift, according to a recent article. At Georgia Institute of Technology, the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) recently tripled to 60,000 square feet through a $40 million expansion, hosting more than 1,000 industry-sponsored projects with sponsors including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Siemens. The facility relies on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, on-campus high-performance computing, and new Juniper networking and Palo Alto Networks security.

Arizona State University and Applied Materials opened the $270 million Materials-to-Fab Center within ASU’s MacroTechnology Works, collaborating on more than a dozen chip-research projects, says Zachary Holman, ASU’s vice dean for research and innovation.

The University of Washington’s Center for the Future of Cloud Infrastructure, backed by Alibaba, Amazon, Cisco, Google, Microsoft and VMware, is winding down after four years of networking and energy-management research, with some findings adopted by partner companies, according to co-director Ratul Mahajan.

Image: Georgia AIM

Nominations Are Open for the 3rd Annual TechPipeline Impact Awards

The TechPipeline Impact Awards were created to recognize the impressive office talent who make exceptional and meaningful contributions to the technology transfer profession in six categories:

• Office Operations
• Licensing
• Community Contribution
• Marketing and Business Development
• Financial Operations
• Legal Counsel (Internal or External)

Nominate your colleagues (or yourself) today!

The Impact Awards are our industry’s only program for universities and research institutions to recognize team members for their dedication and contributions to technology transfer.

Nominations are due October 30, 2026. Winners will be announced in December.

The first two years of the TechPipeline awards program to recognize individuals in the field of technology transfer were a resounding success with many strong submissions. Read about the wonderful accomplishments of the winners from 2024 and 2025.

Nominate one or more individuals who represent excellence and commitment in their role (self-nominations are also encouraged). The nomination process is simple: briefly describe the nominee’s commitment and accomplishments in the short nomination form.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $3.95 million on Aug. 26, 2026, to fund the first phase of a National Security Hub within San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Mission Valley Innovation District. The funding comes through the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative, administered by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).

The hub will connect researchers, entrepreneurs, national security industry leaders and government partners to accelerate commercialization of next-generation security and dual-use technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity, autonomous systems and space technology. It includes a start-up accelerator with a global start-up investor, advanced manufacturing and prototyping facilities, and an investment fund for early-stage companies. Organizers expect the program to support more than 50 start-ups over two years and create over 200 jobs. The hub will initially operate within SDSU’s Division of Research and Innovation before relocating to the Mission Valley site.

At full buildout, the district will include 1.6 million square feet of research and collaboration space, including classified research facilities.

Image: San Diego State University

TrueSilence Therapeutics, a start-up founded on tinnitus research by University of Auckland Professor of Audiology Grant Searchfield, is rolling out its first product, QCore, to New Zealand audiologists while pursuing US regulatory approval.

Tinnitus affects an estimated six percent of New Zealanders over 13 — about 207,000 people — and more than 740 million people worldwide. QCore is a non-invasive digital therapy delivered through a smartphone app and earbuds, combining active and gamified sound therapy in personalised 90-day programmes addressing loudness, awareness and annoyance. Searchfield, the company’s founder and Chief Science Officer, developed the approach over three decades before UniServices, the University of Auckland’s commercialisation arm, connected him with US-based co-founders Robert Derricotte and Michael Hopson, who invested in the venture alongside UniServices.

The company is based in Atlanta, United States, with most technical staff in New Zealand. Searchfield credits collaboration with Auckland Bioengineering Institute researchers for turning his concepts into a working prototype. He also mentored through the University’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Velocity programme in 2015, work he says gave students valuable access to expertise.

Image: University of Auckland