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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.

The Strategic Aerospace Defence Initiative (SADI) is providing $30 million in foundational funding to the recently formed Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC). Industry Canada confirms that SADI is the source of funding for the national consortium — currently co-located with and modelled on the highly successful Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ),

CARIC was officially launched earlier this year (R$, May 7/14) and was waiting for Industry Canada’s decision to fund its operations and industry-led projects.

An initiative by the governor general to capture more global awards for Canadian scientists was quietly launched two years ago and is being well received by the academic and business communities, according to Dr Howard Alper, chair of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC).

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre are teaming up with Philips to commercialize an incisionless surgical technique that destroy tumours without piercing the skin.

The federal government should commit to the “principle of long-term research funding – with a rate of growth leading the economy” and predictable, multi-year funding for research infrastructure when it brings down its last Budget before the 2015 general election.

There is an urgent need for the government to address the erosion of support for basic research with a 2% increase in investments over three years, states a pre-Budget submission from the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE).

Health Canada has launched a high-profile Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation to examine ways in which the healthcare system can be improved and made more cost-effective. Chaired by former Univ of Tor-onto president Dr David Naylor, the seven-member panel is being asked to identify the five most promising areas of innovation to sustainably reduce the growth in healthcare spending while improving quality and access, and recommend how the federal government can achieve those innovations.

The second annual report on The State of the Canadian Aerospace Industry shows that the sector boosted sales by 9.2% to $25.1 billion and increased R&D expenditures by 6.3% to $1.7 billion, with 80% of products destined for export markets.

An international review panel says support for fundamental research needs to be increased or Canada faces the risk of losing ground to other nations. The panel included the warning in its evaluation of the flagship Discovery Grants Program (DGP) of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) which it deemed to be extremely effective in supporting research in the natural sciences and engineering.

Marijuana research is increasing across the country following the federal government’s decision to establish a new regulatory regime and privatize the plant’s production for medicinal purposes. In recent months, at least one clinical trial has been launched and two of the dozens of companies created to enter the marijuana businesses have struck agreements with researchers in the academic sector.