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SADI offering up to $225 million a year

The Harper government’s showcase business assistance program for the aerospace, defence security and space sectors is finalizing agreements with the first round of successful applicants that will produce announcements in the coming weeks.

Guy Bujold has been appointed president and CEO of CANARIE — a posting he accepted before being named interim president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Bujold will take over from Dr Andrew Bjerring on October 1st after his CSA term expires.

Canada’s community colleges have taken a major step forward in their bid to be recognized as a key player in Canada’s innovation system with the rollout out of a permanent program designed to facilitate applied R&D.

The Atlantic Innovation Fund is investing $63.8 million in 29 projects across the Atlantic region, boosting the total awarded to date to more than $500 million. Funding under Round V of the AIF leveraged $63 million from other sources for a total project value of nearly $127 million.

Treasury Board (TB) president Vic Toews has received the final report of the Independent Expert Panel on Transferring Federal Non-Regulatory Laboratories (IPE) and will review its recommendations before releasing the document publicly in the spring.

S&T portfolio in turmoil

The Office of the National Science Advisor (ONSA) is being shut down by the government of Stephen Harper and Dr Arthur Carty has decided to retire, RE$EARCH MONEY has learned.

Canada’s surging economy is growing even faster than overall R&D spending, pushing the GERD-to-GDP ratio back to 1.94 in 2006 — the lowest level in six years. The latest data from Statistics Canada show that despite the declining GERD, Canada now ranks 11th among OECD nations with R&D expenditures of $28.

Ontario’s biopharmaceutical sector is the first recipient of funding from the province’s new Next Generation Jobs (NGJ) Fund with $150 million over five years to stimulate new research and manufacturing.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion has announced a $1-billion Advanced Manufacturing Prosperity (AMP) Fund that includes a provision to make the scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax credit program partially refundable.

The abrupt departure of Larry Boisvert just nine months into a five-year term as president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has prompted Industry Canada to appoint retiring senior bureaucrat Guy Bujold to the position for an eight-month term.