Author: Mark Henderson

Securities legislation set to change

Canadian public companies that resist hostile takeover bids have more time to prepare a response if changes being proposed by Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are enacted as expected later this year.

By Debbie Lawes

Tax policies that encourage industry-academic collaborations and universities that provide more “practical” learning are among the recommendations in a new report that found just 13% of Canadian companies are sufficiently prepared for the coming wave of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, networks, advanced manufacturing and collaborative connected platforms.

Deloitte has joined a growing number of large corporations hoping to improve their innovation and productivity by sharing space with university students and start-ups at the Communitech hub in the Waterloo.

College R&D, infrastructure and skills training received prominent play in the April 21st federal Budget, but no new funding for the current FY, in line with the government’s deferral of most new science, technology and innovation (STI) commitments to next year and beyond (R$, April 30/15).

GreenCentre Canada (GCC) has started construction of a pilot-scale desalination facility at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) to refine technology for separating dissolved solids like salt from water.

A new Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) report has confirmed what some economists have been saying for years: don’t blame the country’s poor innovation and productivity record on a shortage of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.

By Debbie Lawes

Ontario has taken steps to fix a fragmented and price-driven procurement system that stifles healthcare innovation and makes it difficult for health institutions to adopt technologies that can reduce wait times and costs over the long-term.

The federal Budget’s lengthy list of science, technology and innovation (STI) initiatives obscures a lack of short-term financing as the government focuses on balancing its annual deficit and gears up for a fall election.

By Debbie Lawes

Canada is the world’s third largest exporter of wheat but its future competitiveness is at risk without a national effort to coordinate research efforts, attract world-leading scientists and increase both private and public investments in R&D, particularly longer term discovery research.

Canadian industrial R&D is on track to produce another gloomy year as Statistics Canada data show a projected 2.6% year-over-year decline in 2015. Industry is slated to perform just $15.5 billion this year, down from $15.