If you’ve been wondering about the current state of federal S&T and options for the future, this issue’s lead story on the an expert advisory group’s report provides an illuminating window on ways to enhance government science, engineering and technology. Released to RE$EARCH MONEY one year after its completion, the report shows that, despite being reportedly muzzled under the former Conservative government, government scientists and policymakers remained hard at work thinking boldly about how federal S&T can and should be transformed.
The report is entitled – not coincidentally the moniker for a recommended new Science Canada department charged with responsibility for all public S&T as well as leadership on all S&T matters. If its seven recommendations are adopted and adequately funded, federal S&T’s many years in the wilderness could be over.
Such a welcome scenario would go far in addressing the litany of shortcomings and bureaucratic obstacles — not to mention low morale — that hinders federal scientists and the impact of their work at every turn.
ScienceCan is solidly researched with more than 300 pages of valuable supporting material, drawing on important past reports such as the Council of Canadian Academies’ Paradox Lost (2013) and the Building Excellence in Science and Technology (BEST) (1999) by the since defunct Council of Science and Technology Advisors.
It’s essential reading for those who contend that federal S&T is ready, willing and able to enact transformative change.
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