Organization: Science and Economic Development

New federal strategy aims to ensure Indigenous governance of research

Canada’s Tri-Council of major government funding agencies and Indigenous partners across the country have co-developed a new Indigenous research strategic plan. The plan, which proposes a new interdisciplinary research and research screening model, represents a significant new approach by the federal government and a contribution to reconciliation. With implementation starting this spring, the strategy aims to ensure Indigenous peoples lead and control any research involving them.

Feds beef up clean tech support with $700 million in BDC assistance

Details of the federal government’s $2.3-billion investment in clean tech – unveiled in the 2017 Budget — are emerging with an announcement by Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) of $700 million over five years to allow the federal banker to assume a higher risk profile in its loans to business. The BDC investment is…

Government to consider expansion and greater coordination of digital research infrastructure

Canada’s digital research infrastructure (DRI) is fragmented, oversubscribed and underfunded, according to officials close to the file. Its precarious state compared to competitor nations comes at a time when more and more areas of R&D are becoming digitized and data driven while the size and complexity of data sets are increasing exponentially.

Supercluster contenders must include strategies for confronting the risks in managing diverse interests

Managing different organizations with varying interests and different sizes of financial commitment will require a change in culture for the companies and institutions engaged in the Innovation Supercluster Initiative (ISI) competition. Governance and managing millions of dollars in government funds matched by industry are among the key challenges and risks ISI contenders will face, according to panelists at the recent Canadian Science Policy Conference