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Re-orientation of programs possible

Despite the federal government’s enthusiasm for striking and strengthening bilateral trade deals with other nations, one of the few programs that encourages bilateral, industry-led R&D collaboration is in limbo.

Polytechnics Canada (PC) has released a three-pronged strategy for improving skills training and firm-level innovation as part of its pre-Budget submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) has joined forces with a freshly minted pan-Canadian accelerator to assist start-ups in the digital economy space as part of its Ontario Youth Jobs Strategy. OCE is partnering with Highline through its SmartStart Seed Fund, which recently received $9 million to help up to 250 youth between the ages of 18 and 29 start their own businesses.

The Medical Devices Commercialization Centre (MDCC) is hoping there’s gold in the rapidly growing global market for medical devices, but first it must successfully confront obstacles and indifference that has left Canada with a massive trade deficit in the sector.

The Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) has awarded $68.1 million over five years for five new networks, helping to repopulate the program after a mid-term reviews last year removed 11 networks from further funding (R$, February 21/13).

An ambitious proposal from the Univ of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs to examine Canada’s digital economy performance from a global perspective has received a $2.9-million award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

The National Research Council (NRC) has officially launched a new Arctic Program to develop low-impact technologies to further economic and industrial development of Canada’s vast northern regions. The program — recently announced by prime minister Stephen Harper during his annual Arctic sojourn — got underway about one year ago with a budget of $17 million over eight years and aims to leverage another $65 million over its lifespan.

Those looking for an example of the government’s emerging customer-focused, collaborative approach to technology development and commercialization need look no further than a new joint program launched by the National Research Council and Defence R&D Canada.

25 years since last survey

Canadians possess positive attitudes towards science and technology and engagement in science culture but a majority of the population lacks a basic level of science literacy.

Help to reverse de-industrialization

A new report is calling for a slate of new large-scale national energy projects to boost the innovative capacity and productivity of the sector and halt Canada’s slippage back to an economy primarily driven by the extraction and export of raw materials.