Article Type: Generic

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is launching an on-line service this week to assist companies and other organizations in accessing facilities, equipment and expertise funded by the CFI or that currently use CFI-funded infrastructure.

Industry Canada has released a broad description of the consultation process surrounding the updating of its 2007 science and technology strategy — Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage — but it’s unclear whether the new policy directive will be ready in time for the next federal Budget, expected in late March.

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) is tabling a private member’s bill this week calling for the creation of a Parliamentary Science Officer (PSO) to provide independent science information and advice to Parliament.

Half of the 2009 class of the Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) have been approved for federal support beyond their initial five-year funding commitment, following a recent review of their operations and bids for extended assistance.

Recent acquisitions by telecom pioneer Mitel Networks Corp and Waterloo-based Open Text Corp are powerful indicators that Canada’s information and communication technology sector (ICT) is bulking up to increase market share and take on global competition for cloud computing.

Canada is at a stalling point in its science and economic development and efforts to develop a knowledge-based economy could easily slip backwards unless the government gets serious about its science policy, says Canada’s former national science advisor (NSA).

An external review of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) has found that demand for its expertise has soared 85% over the past three years and that its sponsors are becoming increasingly diverse. The external evaluation panel also concluded that the CCA’s work has had a substantial and beneficial impact on government, policy makers and society at large and “has planted seeds that will have future policy and program impacts”.

Canada’s considerable expertise and investment in ocean sciences is being threatened by the lack of effective policy formulation and implementation, according to a major new report from the Council of Canadian Academies.

MaRS Innovation is embracing crowdfunding to accelerate the commercialization of a promising technology for more accurately determining the efficacy of chemotherapy for treating breast cancer. The Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) is aiming to raise $97,000 by November 27th through the Indiegogo campaign platform to fund an initial clinical trial, with longer-term goal to raise a total of $687,000 to support a complete suite of four parallel clinical trials.

Canada’s aerospace companies have surged to account for the largest single share of R&D spending in 2012, fuelled by a third year of explosive growth by Bombardier Inc which propelled the Montreal-based multinational to the #1 spot.