The future of Canada’s nuclear industry is now in full play but so far the government is revealing only a few of the cards in its hand. The announcement of a formal bidding process for the CANDU business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) does little to clarify the future of the crown agency’s research and technology division and reliance on a 53-year old reactor well past its prime (see page 3).

Alignment is the name of the game as Canada’s S&T policy makers seek to streamline and re-focus their efforts towards greater commercial and social outcomes. The rush to re-align organizations created ad hoc over the past several years is becoming a national and provincial pastime with Alberta and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council the latest converts (pages 1 & 5).

The 20th anniversary of the launch of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) finds the program larger and more diverse than at any time in its history. Three distinct streams of centres now occupy centre stage in the suite of federal programs underpinning S&T and commercialization.

Since the implosion of the tech and dot com bubbles in 2001, the field of photonics has undergone a massive transformation that is largely unappreciated by policy makers and the public. Once exclusively associated with telecommunications, photonics is increasing important in a diverse range of sectors from aerospace and automotive to environmental technologies and health.

It’s been a long haul for Canadian policy makers aiming to increase the funding pool for health research. Since the 1990s when cash-starved health researchers were unable to compete internationally, a series of champions have advocated a simple target of 1% of health care costs devoted to research.

Science policy and effective communications are becoming critical components of the S&T enterprise these days and no wonder. With an approaching federal Budget, tight government finances and looming deadlines for key S&T organizations, it’s increasingly important that both governments and the public appreciate the importance of strategically funding activities to keep Canada competitive and on the cutting edge of innovation.

It’s an unfortunate fact of political life that the four-year election cycle and minorities governments are inherently opposed the support of R&D with long-term potential. Witness the perplexing decline in support for the hydrogen and fuel cell sector.

Each year, Canadian academic institutions participate in about 15,000 research contracts, with a sizeable number undertaken with industry. The problem is, there’s no aggregate data to demonstrate the extent to which industry collaborates with academia.

Nortel Networks’s bankruptcy fire sale of key technology assets presents the federal government with another difficult and depressing dilemma over whether to intervene in the marketplace and block their sale to foreign entities.

Ontario’s decision to rationalize its commercialization programs is good news for companies seeking to capitalize on the province’s large and growing stock of promising S&T. With a strong client focus and proposed reward system for the most effective organizations, industry will be relieved from navigating the current maze of programs on offer.