Author: Mark Henderson

Canadian firms seeking expertise and investment in Boston now have an enhanced menu of services and mentors with the expansion of that city’s Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA). The Canadian Mentoring Service (CMS) and active affiliation with the non-profit Canadian Entrepreneurs in New England (CENE) organization are the newest tools in CTA Boston’s arsenal.

Not-for-profit funding remains strong

R&D spending is set to decline in Canada for the third year in a row. Statistics Canada estimates that total R&D expenditures in 2015 will decline $221 million or 0.

The federal program for bilateral industry-led R&D is being taken in-house. The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) quietly announced in late August that the Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP) will be launched later this fall, less than six months after the closure of International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTP Canada) (R$, February 10/15 & April 16/15).

Parties rolling out S&T election pledges

Canada’s main political parties are rolling out a series of science and technology pledges even though their policy platforms have yet to be released. From clean tech and space (Liberals) to space and automotive (New Democrats) and manufacturing and cancer research (Conservatives), the announcements are an indication that S&T is finding space on party election platforms as part of larger efforts to grow and diversify the economy.

The commercialization arm of Vancouver-based Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) is returning to the fold as the organization enters its second phase for derisking and commercializing promising health research discoveries.

A new early-stage fund led by OMERS Ventures is raising cautious optimism that Canada’s venture capital ecosystem is slowly moving to a new level of maturity, with increasing levels of investment in the first half of 2015 and greater participation by typically risk-averse institutional investors.

Indian multinational Tech Mahindra (TM) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ryerson Univ to develop software solutions for optimizing energy generation, consumption and delivery using intelligent microgrids.

The federal government has announced the complete suite of successful research programs funded under the initial competition of the $1.5-billion Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), with Quebec institutions taking two of the five awards.

The halcyon days of annual increases in federal support for R&D in the higher education sector have come to a halt. After a healthy jump in FY12-13, federal support declined 2.1% in FY13-14 to $3.1 billion.

The Univ of Toronto has received $114 million over seven years — the largest research award in its history — to undertake a massive, multifaceted research program on regenerative medicine. The award was made under the initial $350-million tranche of the $1.