Article Type: Generic

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) wants a tough-on-crime approach to intellectual property rights (IPR), saying Canada’s poor track record is stifling innovation and competitiveness in the province.

Group to report to Industry Canada

The increasingly urgent challenge of providing sufficient and stable operating costs to Canada’s major science facilities is slowly resurfacing, two years after it fell off the government radar.

Members of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) have emerged from their first meeting November 19 with several requests for advice and with confidence that their work will achieve more success in affecting federal S&T policy than past advisory councils.

Canada’s research hospitals want the Science and Technology Strategy broadened to include multi-year funding and a national strategic framework for health research. In a 76-page report released November 28, the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations (ACAHO) calls on all players involved in health research, from governments and funding agencies to teaching hospitals, to take steps it says are necessary for Canada to maximize investments in health research, innovation and commercialization.

Researchers from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) are refining technology that will reduce the amount of water used for oil sands recovery by half, creating dry tailings that will allow for significant land reclamation.

Record levels of US venture capital (VC) helped to boost investment in Ontario firms in Q3/07, according to the latest data from Thompson Financial. Ontario companies received $288 million in VC investment in the quarter, up 116% from Q2/07 when just $131 million was committed.

EDGE and CDRN vow to continue

Two more Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) focused on the social sciences are being axed amidst speculation that a pilot program designed to ease access of social sciences research to NCE funding will not be renewed.

Focus on Atlantic Canada innovation

The chair of the advisory board for the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) says projects being recommended in the fifth and latest round are the strongest he’s seen since the Fund was launched in 2000.

Dalhousie Univ is dramatically increasing its capacity to conduct and apply life sciences research with the realization of its Life Sciences Research Centre (LSRI). To be anchored by The Brain Repair Centre (BRC), the new facility was the surprise recipient of federal funding earlier this year under the Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) program.

Focus on Atlantic Canada innovation

Atlantic Canada-based technology firms must reach out globally to overcome the region’s shortcomings. That was a strong message delivered at the Second Regional Atlantic RE$EARCH MONEY Conference, which featured a diverse slate of national and international speakers and panelists.