Canada’s innovation agenda appears to be safe following the Liberal minority victory in this week’s federal election. There was a collective sign of relief throughout the S&T community by those who believe that progress is being made in overcoming the hurdles associated with bringing research to the marketplace.

The recent collapse of Liberal Party support in the federal election campaign has Canada’s S&T community nervous. In both the public and private sectors, the prospect of a Conservative government could mean a dramatically different way of conducting R&D and business.

The Ontario S&T community had better brace itself for some major changes to the publicly funded mechanisms it has grown to rely upon. The recent provincial Budget follows the federal lead by essentially holding off on any major new initiatives while it examines the portfolio of programs it inherited from the previous administration.

Where did all of Canada’s high-tech companies go? That’s the $64,000 question arising from data showing that the number of R&D-performing firms over the last 10 years has actually declined. Between 1994 and 2000 — a period when the high-tech sector was booming (some would argue bubbling) — the number of high-tech firms conducting R&D dropped from 11,638 to 10,418, a net loss of 1,120 (see back page).

Barring another major downturn in the technology sector, Ottawa’s objective of moving Canada up the list of R&D performing nations appears to be viable. That’s the consensus of a new report on our corporate R&D-performing companies, which places the onus of becoming one of the world’s top five R&D performing nations on a group of 228 companies (see page 4).

Last month’s Budget provides the first concrete indications that the government of Paul Martin is serious about moving a lot more of the nation’s substantial R&D investment into the marketplace. The caveat, according to senior government officials, is not just a lack of available funding but the absence of a comprehensive implementation strategy.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is at a crossroads. With the changing of the guard at the helm and completion of its last competition before funding levels drop, now is the time to re-evaluate its role in the national system of innovation.

Rumors abound over whether commercialization will be the focus of any new measures in the March 23rd federal Budget. One highly placed official has suggested it will, adding that the initiative could focus on existing clusters in Canada’s major cities.

The need to move quickly on commercialization is taking on added urgency with the release of new data demonstrating that Canada’s technology intensive businesses are struggling. Statistics Canada’s report on the nation’s GERD-to-GDP ratio shows a reduction in R&D intensity (see page 5).

Keep an eye on Alberta in 2004. The province many assume is focused more on holes in the ground than on S&T is quickly becoming a hotbed of innovative ideas and initiatives that have national implications.