The superclusters should be assessed by a broad innovation policy framework and with a longer time frame than their initial five-year mandate, says John Knubley, the former deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada who was responsible for the creation of the superclusters initiative.
Person: John Knubley
CANARIE refunded at historic levels as part of Canada’s new Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy
CANARIE, Canada’s 26-year-old research and education network, has received $137 million in funding, solidifying its prominent place within the country’s national digital research infrastructure (DRI) ecosystem
The Short Report, July 24, 2019: 5G, Indigenous health, John Knubley
Rogers Communications has partnered with Waterloo accelerator Communitech to open a 5G innovation lab, opening in September and focusing on smart city, IoT and enterprise applications. – Yahoo Finance Saskatoon-based software company Vendasta Technologies Inc. has raised $40-million in venture capital, the largest ever for a Saskatchewan tech company. – The Globe and Mail Ottawa calls it the largest…
Economic Strategy Tables to inject industry priorities into government policy making and future funding
The potential payoff of the Liberal government’s bold initiative for tapping industry expertise to provide input on six key tech sectors will be known soon as the six Economic Strategy Tables (EST) prepare their final reports for submission.
National Research Council receives new funding, flexibilities; IRAP boosted to handle larger projects
The National Research Council (NRC) and its Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) will receive $148 million in new funding through the 2018 federal Budget to support a “reimagined” NRC calibrated to deliver on the federal government’s Innovation and Skills Plan.
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
Government banks on supercluster initiative to boost economy through innovation
Almost a billion dollars in taxpayers’ funds are the carrot that the federal government hopes will bring industry and other stakeholders together to talk to each other and tap into each other’s resources to boost the Canadian economy through innovation. That’s the logic behind the $950-million Innovation Supercluster Initiative (ISI) which is heading into the final stretch of the two-phase selection process for between three and five winners.
Institutional investors take aim at structural barriers to help companies scale
Several of the country’s largest institutional investors are finalizing an action plan that, if adopted, could halve the $4 billion capital gap that exists today for Canada’s rapidly expanding pipeline of early- and growth-stage companies.
Brian Emmett
Brian Emmett has been appointed NRCan’s assistant DM strategic policy sector. A key member of Canada’s Green Plan team, Emmett worked at Environment Canada as a DG policy and assistant DM corporate policy. He moved to NRCan in 2003 as assistant DM of the Canadian Forest Service….
Martin Rofheart
Martin Rofheart has been appointed senior VP corporate development at Gennum Corp, Burlington ON. Rofheart is a wireless industry pioneer and an authority in wireless, audio and video technology. He co-founded and was CEO of XtremeSpectrum, which was acquired by Freescale Semiconduct