Who Actually Owns Your Best Idea? A Live IP Teardown
About this event
Ask a founder about their IP and most will talk about patents and trademarks. But the real value in an early company is almost never registered. It's your know-how, your customer data, your code, your brand, your training material.
And most founders have already signed a good chunk of it away — in contractor agreements, client contracts, grant conditions, and software terms of service they clicked through years ago.
This is not a lecture. It's a working session. You'll build an IP Asset Register and Exposure Map for your own business in the room, then swap it with another founder for a second set of eyes.
No slide deck. No panel. No moderator.
What you'll walk away with
A completed IP Asset Register and Exposure Map for your business. Not a template to fill in later — a finished document.
You'll have your assets listed across five categories, current ownership marked against agreements you've already signed, every gap flagged, and your top three exposures ranked.
This is the same document used in due diligence, lender files, and grant applications. You can hand it to a lawyer, attach it to a funding application, or bring it to an investor conversation next week.
You'll also leave with a funded next step. Catapult Startups is an ElevateIP Alberta delivery partner. If you identify a gap worth fixing, there is funding available to fix it.
Who this is for
Founders and operators with a live business. Tech professionals responsible for product, data, or contracts inside a company. No legal or IP background needed — every term gets defined in plain language and you'll get a one-page cheat sheet at the door.
How the 90 minutes runs
Live teardown (15 min) — We pull apart a real Alberta company's IP position in front of the room. Gaps and all.
Build your register (30 min) — You map your own assets and ownership, with facilitators circulating.
Peer audit (20 min) — Swap with another founder. You'll miss your own blind spots and catch theirs in ninety seconds.
Live questions (15 min) — Bring your real ownership situations. Get a straight answer on the spot, with an IP lawyer in the room.
What to bring
A laptop, and if you can, access to your contractor agreements, client contracts, or grant terms. You'll get more out of the build if you can check what you actually signed.
Catapult Startups is a Calgary non-profit working with founders across Alberta and Canada, and an ElevateIP Alberta delivery partner.
Built Here. Backed Here.
Calgary Innovation Week is the city-wide moment that brings Calgary’s innovation ecosystem into full view. Across the week, founders, industry, investors, talent and community organizations come together to share what they’re building, make connections, and show the strength of what’s being built here – and backed – here.
By registering for this event, you acknowledge that Platform Calgary (the organization), as well as third-party organizations hosting activities in the shared public spaces of Platform Innovation Centre (the venue), may capture photos, audio, and video recordings. These materials may include your image or likeness and may be used for promotional purposes, including marketing, social media, and other communications by the respective organizations.
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