Article Type: Generic

By Debbie Lawes

The Univ of Winnipeg hopes to significantly increase its sponsored research over the coming years by leveraging the largest industry collaboration in the institution’s history. The university — better known as an undergraduate school — has finalized $14 million in funding deals with Cisco Canada, the province and the federal government to transform the campus into a provincial hub for immersive, high-end videoconferencing with a larger focus on applied R&D and commercialization.

Focus on Waterloo, Part I

“The patient is healthy.” That’s the consensus of Iain Klugman, president of Communitech, the unapologetic booster of all things high tech in the Waterloo region. With a handful of large, homegrown tech companies, the presence of several multinationals and a growing cadre of smaller firms, Waterloo’s tech sector is on a steep growth curve, with an accent on digital media and benefitting from a remarkable collaboration between key players.

CMC Microsystems has received $40 million to maintain and enhance its National Design Network, (NDN) effectively renewing its core funding for the next five years beginning in FY10-11. The funding was provided to CMC through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), which has supported the organization since its inception in 1984.

The Ninth Annual RE$EARCH MONEY Conference

“Industrial R&D: Is Canada Really Lagging”
March 25, 2010 at the National Arts Centre

The large industrial research lab is no longer the norm. Multinational firms now globally distribute their R&D and collaborate with partners in public and private sector institutions.

Surplus expected by FY12-13

Alberta has allocated $188 million to support the operations of Alberta Innovates (AI), its new structure for provincial research, innovation and technology commercialization.

National strategy needed

A funding imbalance facing health research in Canada could be rectified with the development and implementation of a sectoral framework and roadmap, according to Research Canada, an advocacy group for the creation of a health research strategy.

No new competitions since 2007

Canada’s small but influential number of climate and atmospheric science researchers could get a lot smaller if a key support organization is not quickly refunded. Repeated requests to the federal government to renew funding for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) have so far been ignored, prompting fears that the trickle of scientists who have already left could expand into a mass exodus.

The Ninth Annual RE$EARCH MONEY Conference

“Industrial R&D: Is Canada Really Lagging”
March 25, 2010 at the National Arts Centre

The large industrial research lab is no longer the norm. Multinational firms now globally distribute their R&D and collaborate with partners in public and private sector institutions.

From the RE$EARCH MONEY archives

What a difference a decade makes. Since the dawn of the new millennium, science and technology in Canada has experienced both the exhilaration of increased investment in research capacity and the frustration of interrupted strategies and an apparent decline in priority at the federal level.

2000

Upsurge in federal S&T spending (Nov 29/00)
Initial investment by Mike Lazaridis in Perimeter Institute (Nov 3/00)
Call for greater international S&T funding by ACST (Oct 23/00)
Paul Martin calls for big increase in R&D and education (Oct 2/00)
Joint task force calls for reinvestment in northern research (Oct 2/00)
Genome Canada created with $160M in federal funding (Mar 17/00)
Alberta launches Alberta Ingenuity
Feds fund Sustainable Development Technology Canada (April 7/00)
CSTA calls for urgent investment in federal S&T (April 21/00)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research officially launched (April 21/00)
PAGSE sub-group calls for foresight capacity (May 12/00)
CANARIE develops concept for CA*net4 high-speed research network (July 28/00)
Atlantic Innovation Fund launched (July 28/00)
Business schools seek research and innovation funding (Sept 1/00)

2001

Quebec releases long-awaited S&T policy (Feb 12/01)
NRC nanotechnology institute receives federal funding (Mar 19/01)
Canadian industry posts record R&D increases (June 25/01)
Government unveils skills and learning strategy (Sept 24/01)
9/11 attacks put pending Innovation Agenda in doubt (Sept 24/01)
Fed and provincial S&T ministers meet for first time in since 1992 (Oct 10/01)
University R&D entering new renaissance (Oct 24/01)
Canada’s GERD takes dramatic jump (Nov 13/01)
ITAC and SMC to merge (Nov 13/01)
RE$EARCH MONEY holds first annual conference (Nov 28/01)
NCE-styled program for federal labs proposed (Nov 28/01)

2002

DND fund to combat terrorist attacks launched (Jan 23/02)
Perimeter Institute seeking federal and provincial funding (Jan 23/02)
Canada Foundation for Innovation doles out $780 million (Feb 11/02)
CRIAQ aerospace consortium formed in Quebec (Feb 11/02)
Government releases Innovation Strategy documents (Feb 27/02)
Venture capital turns to earlier-stage deals (Feb 27/02)
CIHR sets guidelines for stem cell research (Mar 18/02)
Chretien-Martin clash threatens to derail innovation agenda (June 7/02)
Report calls for closing of science-policy divide (July 8/02)
Venture capital investment plunges (August 30/02)
ITAC report disputes objective of moving from 15th to 5th (Oct 21/02)
FINE proposal for new federal research networks withdrawn (Nov 4/02)
Group calls for $500-million investment in nanotechnology research (Nov 18/02)
National Innovation Summit produces five-point action plan (Dec 2/02)
ACST revived to assist Innovation Strategy development (Dec 202)

2003

CFI receives $500 to support research hospitals (Feb 18/03)
Research and innovation score big in federal budget (March 7/03)
Ontario targets auto sector with $625-million R&D funding package (March 7/03)
Single funding source for big science operations proposed (May 6/03)
ITER Canada bid backed by Ontario Cabinet (May 22/03)
CMC, Precarn and CANARIE lay claim to 4th pillar status (June 9/03)
Charest government cuts back on business subsidies, granting council funding (June 23/03)
Commercialization and clusters dominate Martin’s S&T agenda (August 8/03)
Taxes, talent and attitude key to higher GERD (Sept 16/03)
Shire pulls plug on former BioChem Pharma research team (Sept 16/03)
Feds pump $215 million into hydrogen economy (Oct 27/03)
Canadian innovation network proposed by Alberta Research Council (Dec 11/03)
Office of the National Sciences Advisor created (Dec 22/03)

2004

McMaster Univ receives $105 million gift for healthcare research and education (Jan 28/04)
Martin government highlights commercialization in throne speech (Feb 12/04)
Business R&D spending slow to recover from tech and dot com meltdowns (Feb 12/04)
Higher education R&D jumps 23% in FY01-02 (Feb 12/04)
OCE program consolidates, seeks greater financial clout (March 3/04)
Brunet Report recommends more private participation in Quebec VC industry (March 18/04)
David Strangway offers parting view on Canadian research and commercialization (March 18/04)
Auditor General hammers NRC’s governance structure (April 6/04)
Alberta unveils value-added strategy for economic growth (May 10/04)
Technology Partnerships Canada braces for challenges under NAFTA (May 10/04)
Denny Doyle warns of hollowing out of tech sector (May 10/04)
Stem Cell Network attempts new IP bundling strategy (July 16/04)
Ontario makes commercialization of S&T a top priority (July 16/04)
Federal spending on health R&D exceeds $5 billion (July 30/04)
ACST calls for massive increase in VC funding for seed and pre-seed (Sept 3/04)
Canadian Light Source opens for business in Saskatoon (Sept 28/04)
Canadian Academies of Science gets PM’s OK to proceed (Oct 12/04)
Spending by Top-100 R&D industry performers declines by 5% in 2003 (Oct 27/04)
Ontario commits $1.