BC Regional Innovation Chair

NOTE: Information below is 2017 onward

The BC Regional Innovation Chair in Canada-India Partnership Development is a research chair focused on developing research partnerships with leading academic and research institutions in India. This Chair has been established with the funding and support of the Fraser Valley community and the BC Government through the Leading Edge Endowment Fund. The funding is gratefully acknowledged.

The current BC Regional Innovation Chair, Dr. Jon Thomas, is working on strengthening the innovation ecosystem in the Fraser Valley through teaching, research and mentoring for students and entrepreneurs in the Fraser Valley. Dr. Thomas has studied and mentored scientists and engineers commercializing their inventions for social impact for almost two decades. He holds a Ph.D. in Technology Management & Strategy from IIT Delhi and has been a Mitacs Elevate postdoctoral fellow examining innovation in the nano-biotechnology industry.

His interdisciplinary research on various aspects of innovation, entrepreneurship, and science commercialization, has been published in Nature Nanotechnology, Technovation, Journal of Engineering & Technology Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Scientometrics, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, and World Patent Information. He is regularly invited to speak on innovation and entrepreneurship topics and is keenly interested in the pre-formation and early post-formation stages of venture formation, particularly in university settings.  

Since joining UFV in 2017, Dr. Thomas has mentored many student projects, published multiple peer-reviewed research papers, has developed innovation and entrepreneurship courses, and delivered many invited talks and public lectures across the Fraser Valley and beyond. For selected research please see below.

I. Student research

• Jordan Evans (2018): Exploring innovation in the Fraser Valley.
• Anhit Boparai (2018): The growth of AI/ automation across the world.
• Archit (2018): Examining the Indian aviation Industry.
• Maegan McKay (2019): Canadian university intellectual property policies.
• Himani Thapa (2019): Student entrepreneurship supports in Canadian universities.
• Rakshita Guleria (2019): Automation in the berry industry in Canada.
• Vardan Bhatia (2019): A case-study of the Abbotsford aerospace cluster.
• Simarpreet (2019): Indigenous entrepreneurship in Canada.
• Gurkaran Sahota (2019): Social entrepreneurship in Canada.
• Mehrab Nagpal (2019): Literature review on family-owned businesses in Canada and India.
• Amit Bansal (2019): Market entry into the Indian market.
• Jasleen Sandhu (2020): Amazon Inc. – Core competencies and their integration.
• Karen Toor (2020): Social innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Kashish Ahuja (2020): Responding to disruption: The failure of Blockbuster.
• Raman Jawanda (2020): A literature review on the factors affecting organizational innovation.
• Jessica Levesque (2020): Less House, More Home – Tiny homes and affordable housing.
• Jasleen Kaur Sandhu (2020): Investigating emerging opportunities to fight forest fires using geographical information systems.
• Balkar Sidhu (2020): Analyzing select aspects of the energy-efficient homes industry in British Columbia.
• Gaurav Meelu (2021): Opportunities and challenges in the logistics industry in India.
• Komal Lagah (2021): HR issues impacting start-up performance
• Vaibhav Bector (2022): Exploring renewable energy technologies for public transport in Canada and India

II. Recent peer-reviewed academic journal publications

• Maine, E., Thomas, V. J. (2017). Raising financing through strategic timing. Nature Nanotechnology, 12(2): 93–98. Impact Factor (2017): 45.815.

• Thomas, V. J., Maine, E. (2019). Impact of regional systems of innovation on the formation of university spin-offs by biomedical star scientists. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 37(2), 271–287.

• Thomas, V. J., Maine, E. (2019). Market entry strategies for electric vehicle start-ups in the automotive industry – Lessons from Tesla Motors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 235, 653–663. Impact Factor (2018): 6.395.

• Thomas, V. J., Bliemel, M., Shippam, C., Maine, E. (2020) Endowing university spin-offs pre-formation: Entrepreneurial capabilities for scientist-entrepreneurs, Technovation, Vol. 96–97, Aug.–Sep. 2020, 102153. Impact Factor (2019): 5.729.

• Park, A., Goudarzi, A., Yaghmaie, P., Thomas, V. J., Maine, E. (2022) Rapid response through the entrepreneurial capabilities of academic scientists. Nature Nanotechnology. 17, 802–807 (2022).

• Park, A., Goudarzi, A., Yaghmaie, P., Thomas, V. J., Maine, E. (2023) The role of pre-formation intangible assets in the endowment of science-based university spin-offs. Special Issue on: Intangible Assets and Innovation Management. International Journal of Technology Management.

III. Recent peer-reviewed international academic conference presentations

• The Role of Star Scientists in Science-based University Spin-off Emergence, 15th Annual West Coast Research Symposium, Edmonton, Canada, Aug.-Sept. 2017.
• Endowing University Spin-offs Pre-formation: Entrepreneurial Capabilities for Scientist-entrepreneurs. ISPIM Connects Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, 7th-10th April 2019.
• Exploring innovation in the Fraser Valley. ISPIM Connects Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, 7th-10th April 2019.
• Endowing University Spin-offs Pre-formation: Entrepreneurial Capabilities for Scientist-entrepreneurs. Technology Transfer Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, 26th-28th September 2019.
• The role of pre-formation intangible assets in endowing science-based university spin-offs. Policies, Processes and Practices for Performance of Innovation Ecosystems (P4IE) 2022 – Measuring Metrics that Matter. Ottawa and Online. May 9-11, 2022.
• Rapid response through the entrepreneurial capabilities of academic scientists. Policies, Processes and Practices for Performance of Innovation Ecosystems (P4IE) 2022 – Measuring Metrics that Matter. Ottawa and Online. May 9-11, 2022.
• Actors’ positioning in an emerging innovation ecosystem – The case of green hydrogen. Processes and Practices for Performance of Innovation Ecosystems (P4IE) 2022 – Measuring Metrics that Matter. Ottawa and Online. May 9-11, 2022.
• Identifying commercialization challenges for entrepreneurial firefighting start-ups. Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering & Technology, August 7-11, 2022 in Portland, Oregon.

IV. Invited presentations, facilitation, & guest lectures

V. Selected current Innovation and Entrepreneurship projects

• Innovation in the Fraser Valley: This project resulted in the collection of several decades of patent data on inventors from the Fraser Valley. EFCIE Student Researcher Jordan Evans presented the initial results of this research at an international conference in Ottawa in 2019. Additional work is ongoing.

• Examining smart cities – The Case of Abbotsford: EFCIE Student Researcher Olena Bogdanov is examining how cities can implement innovative technologies to improve the quality of life of their residents. A paper is being developed for a leading journal.

• Identifying commercialization challenges for entrepreneurial firefighting start-ups: EFCIE Student Researcher Jasleen Kaur Sandhu is presenting this paper at an international conference (PICMET’2022 in August 2022).

• Exploring the business case for tiny homes: Jessica Levesque worked on developing a tiny homes community in the Fraser Valley.

VI: Canada-India Partnership Exploration & Development

The Chair has given invited talks and engaged in discussions with leading research institutions in India. The aim of these collaborations is to strengthen UFV’s profile in India, develop sustainable partnerships across institutions, and bring high-quality students from India to UFV. A list of select institutions is provided below.

• IIT Delhi
• IIT Bombay
• IIT Kharagpur
• IIT Madras
• CMC Ludhiana
• Panjab University

The Chair has been awarded external funding in 2022 for two students from India who are expected to work with the Chair on research projects of relevance to Canada and India.

Section VII: Service 

University Service

1.     Member, UFV India Management Committee 2017 –
2.     Chair, UFV Research Advisory Council 2018–2020.
3.     Member, UFV Senate Research Committee 2018–2020.
4.     UFV Nodal Contact Person for Research Partnerships in India 2018 –
5.     FPS Representative, UFV Faculty Standards Committee of the Senate 2018–2020.
6.     Mentored UFV India Faculty for BUS 430 – Management of Innovation, 2019.
7.     Provided comments to the AVP REGS on UFV's Intellectual Policy revision, 2019.
8.     Member, UFV Department of Economics Selection Advisory Committee, 2019.
9.     Member, UFV Senate 2019 – 
10.   Member, UFV Senate Academic Planning & Priorities Committee 2019 – 
11.   Member, UFV Senate Budget Committee 2019 –
12.   Member, UFV Senate Governance Committee 2019 – 
13.   Member, UFV Academic Freedom Panel 2019 –
14.   Member, UFV Faculty Service Excellence Award Committee 2019–2020.
15.   Member, UFV Thought Leadership Group – 2020. 
16.   Member, IPEC (two FPS faculty members) – 2020–2021. 
17.   Member, UFV Joint Senate/ Board Governance Committee 2020 –
18.   Member, UFV Program Working Group, Graduate Certificate in Technology, Innovation, & Society. 2020 –
19.   Member, UFV Program Working Group, Bachelor of Integrated Studies – Applied Management Concentration 2020–2021.
20.   Member, Selection Advisory Committee – School of Business LTAs 2021.
21.   Member, Selection Advisory Committee – Director (EDI) 2021.
22.   Member, UFV Program Working Group, Master of Sustainable Finance. 2021 –  

Professional Service

• Invited Conference Session Facilitator – ISPIM Connects Ottawa 7th-10th April 2019 – Session on Technology Entrepreneurship.
• Invited Discussant, R&D Management Symposium 2020, Vancouver, Canada.
• Ad-hoc Reviewer – Technovation; Technological Forecasting and Social Change; Journal of Technology Transfer; Scientometrics; R&D Management; Innovation: Organization & Management; Review of World Economics.