Organization: Simon Fraser University

The Short Report – July 27, 2022: Ottawa launches next phase of its ocean protection program, a new policy agreement for Canada’s agricultural partnership, funding to fight online disinformation, and more.

Ottawa invests in marine safety as part of the next phase of the Oceans Protection Plan; federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers of Agriculture reach an agreement for the new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, fighting disinformation on COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and more.

Nurturing the entrepreneurial mind-set

Simon Fraser University, in collaboration with the research organization Mitacs, is mounting a concerted effort to provide students across the campus with access to courses and services to help them develop an entrepreneurial outlook on their work. Elicia Maine, who recently became a special advisor to the university’s VP Research and International, says these extensive efforts will benefit these students in their career paths as well as enhancing the talent available for Canada’s innovation ecosystem.

Research with and for communities

Enlisting research subjects as research managers builds strong bridges of trust and understanding with communities that are being studied. It also yields better findings.

Federally funded project aims to build collaborative network of SMEs to grow B.C.’s ag-tech sector

The “AGtech Innovation Sandbox” in British Columbia — which received $10 million in federal funding — aims to build a collaborative network of SMEs to grow the province’s ag-tech sector, based on an innovation model used to support companies developing digital health technologies. Meanwhile, Vancouver is ranked No. 9 in the world’s top 35 “ag-tech and new food” ecosystems, according to a new report from Startup Genome.