The Business Case for IP: Leveraging Intellectual Property for Growth and Investment
📅 Date: Tuesday, November 19, 2025
🕙 Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
📍 Location: Smart & Biggar Offices, Downtown Toronto
🎟️ Admission: Free (Registration Required)
☕ Light refreshments provided
🔍 About the Event
Join us for an engaging morning session designed to help startups and scale-ups understand how intellectual property (IP) a powerful tool for business growth, investment readiness, and competitive advantage can be.
Hosted in collaboration with Smart & Biggar, this event will feature a 45-minute presentation followed by networking and Q&A. Whether you're building your first MVP or scaling globally, this session will offer actionable insights tailored to your stage of growth.
💡 What You’ll Learn
• How IP can enhance your company’s valuation and funding potential.
• Strategic approaches to IP for startups and scale-ups.
• Updates on IPON and Elevate IP funding programs.
👥 Who Should Attend
• Entrepreneurs in AI, Automotive, Chemical and Biotechnology, clean tech. electronic & Computer technologies, financial services technology medical devices, etc.
• Founders and business leaders interested in IP strategy.
• Innovation-driven companies in Mississauga and the GTA.
Note: Priority will be given to companies with an active operations or scaling.
🎤 Speakers
Reshika Dhir, Principal, Smart & Biggar LP
Reshika is an electrical engineer and an intellectual property (IP) lawyer, as well as a registered patent agent before the Canadian IP Office (CIPO). She is also a registered U.S. patent agent and represents Canadian companies and entrepreneurs before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Reshika has over a decade of experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications across a wide range of technologies. She has helped many clients protect their valuable technologies in fields such as telecommunication, signal processing, medical devices, power electronics, payment processing, wearables, cybersecurity, blockchain, data encryption, artificial intelligence, computer networks, mobile applications, and robotics.
Apart from overseeing her clients’ national and global patent portfolios, Reshika advises clients on patentability opinions, infringement evaluations, freedom-to-operate assessments, as well as IP procurement and enforcement. Additionally, Reshika provides valuable insights to clients on safeguarding their product and packaging designs with industrial design protection. Reshika is a go-to expert for clients looking for practical and cost-effective IP solutions. With her industry experience in both the semiconductor and nuclear sectors, Reshika brings a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to her work as an IP advisor and mentor.
Reshika won several awards and scholarships, most notably the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation Medal for the highest academic standing in her engineering graduating class. She has also won the Mathews Dinsdale & Clark’s 12th Annual Canadian Labour Arbitration Competition at Osgoode Hall Law School.
As a guest speaker at various Canadian law schools and a mentor at various innovation centres across Canada, Reshika is dedicated to spreading her passion for IP and technology.
Gurbir Sidhu, Associate, Smart & Biggar LP
Gurbir is a computer science engineer turned lawyer, with experience in assisting technology companies to develop, position, and monetize their IP assets. He has extensive experience in patent prosecution, IP due diligence, licensing, transactions, and IP analytics, with a focus on the engineering and high-tech sectors. His areas of expertise include software, artificial intelligence, CGI and animation, robotics, AR/VR technologies, FinTech, and aerospace.
Outside of work, Gurbir is an Adjunct Professor at Conestoga College, where he enjoys teaching business and IP law. He is committed to pro-bono efforts and legal volunteerism, mentoring students and young professionals through programs at the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) and the Black Law Students’ Association of Canada (BLSA).
While completing his Master of Laws (LLM) in IP Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, Gurbir represented his institution at the USPTO’s National Patent Application Drafting Competition (2022), securing third place and marking the first time a Canadian law school was listed among the national winners.
📣 Please RSVP early to secure your spot. Space is limited and priority will be given to vetted companies.