Organization: University of Toronto

The Short Report, June 24, 2020: Canada’s pandemic recovery, investments in sustainability, and more

ECONOMIC RECOVERY The economic recovery from the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to break Canada’s weak track record on innovation through inclusive growth. Canada performs poorly on business investment in R&D, technology adoption, productivity and patent generation and protection, and our record on inclusion and equity is poor, write Dan Breznitz and Daniel Munro. But we…

The Short Report – May 27, 2020: DMZ and Ryerson Futures merge; Canadian psychedelic research gets boost; CFI launches $25-million competition; progress on a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine; and more

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council has awarded $76 million for 128 new applied research projects at colleges, cégeps and polytechnics. Funded through the tri-agency College and Community Innovation Program and the College-Industry Innovation Fund from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the investments will connect colleges with local companies, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, to collaborate on projects that further…

The Short Report, May 13, 2020: Public trust in science rising; new COVID-19 advisory councils created; OneEleven ceases operations; and more

COVID-19 NEWS Canadians’ trust in doctors, scientists and the government has increased since the cornovirus pandemic began, finds public opinion polls from January and repeated on May 1 and May 2. Conducted by Proof Strategies CanTrust Index of Ottawa, the survey found that 76% of Canadians trusted doctors and 70% trusted scientists. The follow up…

The Short Report, April 28, 2020: Alarming drop in donations for health charities; Health Canada approves COVID-19 clinical trial; and more

Health charities are seeing an “alarming” drop in donations, which they warn will compromise the health of Canadians living with chronic disease. HealthPartners, a collaboration of 16 Canadian charities, released the findings in its report, The Impact of COVID-19 on our Most Vulnerable Canadians. In response to declining donations, the report says health charities have…

Survey: Canadian universities are increasingly cutting fossil fuels from their investment portfolios

A growing number of Canadian universities, including some of the country’s largest, are significantly reducing the industrial carbon in their investment portfolios, a R$ survey shows. Less than a handful of universities are divesting specifically from fossil fuel holdings, but many schools also are using a “responsible investing” approach which considers environmental, social and governance factors.