The year-end reports have all been issued and the findings for Canada aren’t particularly encouraging. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, Canada’s quest to become an innovation nation is going nowhere fast with the trend lines for key indicators going down rather than up.

There’s nothing better to sharpen the focus of Canada’s instruments of research and innovations than a review. The R&D Expert Panel Review — which has already begun discussions with the main S&T players — is intended to take stock of federal investments in R&D as they relate to business and make recommendations on re-allocating that funding.

Canadian S&T stands to benefit from a resurgence in federal-provincial cooperation with plans for another meeting of economic development ministers to discuss key aspects of the federal Digital Economy Strategy (DES).

This year’s Top 100 and Top 50 lists of Canada’s biggest R&D spenders in industry and academia provide a valuable snapshot of the health of Canada’s key innovation engines. Far beyond the curiosity value such lists provide (who’s up, who’s down, and why) the raw data behind the main players in the innovation system provide clues to the solutions we all seek in the quest to transform Canada into a truly innovative nation.

The federal government has deemed the home-grown, home-owned space assets of MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates to be of net benefit to Canada — a position it may also take with Potash Corp which is being sought by Australia-based BHP Billiton.

After nearly four years of focusing on the academic end of the research spectrum, the Conservative government is finally turning its attention towards the other end of the innovation continuum — industrial R&D.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that research contracting is an under-appreciated aspect of knowledge transfer. These demand driven contracts are a critical component of the Canadian innovation system and their importance is growing yearly.

Is Canada’s investment in its S&T enterprise stagnating? That’s likely a timely question for many researchers and innovative firms as news emerges on funding for new research infrastructure and the state of high performance computing.

With more than 2,000 submissions to its Digital Economy Strategy consultations, the federal government has an excellent opportunity to mount a major offensive against the nation’s weak productivity and commercialization performance.

Quebec’s decision to combine its three provincial granting councils under the banner of Recherche Québec and the leadership of a chief scientist is an audacious move that could have ramifications beyond the province’s borders.