Author: Mark Henderson

Entrepreneurs and companies in Nova Scotia and Israel will be pursuing collaborative R&D partnerships via a new program struck between the two jurisdictions. The Nova Scotia-Israel Innovation Program (NSIIP) is intended to facilitate the creation and commercialization of technologies by start-ups with the aim of developing full scale operations with global market reach.

Builds on work by expanded foresight group

The National Research Council (NRC) is launching an unprecedented online consultation this week to help the agency shape its investment strategy in emerging technologies.

The writing was on the wall for those who chose to see it long before the largely unnoticed demise of ACCTCanada last year. The message: technology transfer by universities, and later by colleges, has become an increasingly futile exercise in perpetuating the traditional push model for moving academic-based discoveries into the marketplace.

Cisco, Open Text and Linamar tapped

Ontario is touting its massive $2.5-billion, 10-year Jobs and Prosperity Fund (JPF) as Canada’s economic growth forecast shifts to southern Ontario’s manufacturing heartland.

The government has chosen March 31/18 as the date when it will shut down the NRU reactor, Canada’s only nuclear reactor devoted to medical isotope production and neutron physics research. The announcement signals the government’s decision to abandon its plans for seeking a five-year extension past the October 31/16 end of its current licencing mandate.

One of Canada’s few programs for supporting bilateral industrial R&D is set to close its doors nine years after it was introduced. Funding for International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTPCanada) will expire March 31/15 with no indication that its funder — the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) — is prepared to maintain support beyond the end of the fiscal year.

As the 10-year mandate of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) is set to expire, its interim president Janet Bax is optimistic that the government will refund its operations when the next Budget is tabled.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has selected nine research facilities to share $25 million in operational support as part of a special competition under its Major Science Initiatives (MSI) fund .

It’s been a decade of highs and lows as science and technology struggles to position itself as a key component of the federal government’s — and Canada’s — priority agenda. High international rankings for science have earned Canadian researchers well-deserved praise for exploring the frontiers of several key fields.

Canadian private non-profit organizations (PNPOs) are expected to perform $158 million in R&D in 2015, a 1.3% decline from an estimated $160 million in 2014. The amount includes intramural R&D spending ($146 million) and capital outlays of $12 million.