Article Type: Generic

After five years without a price increase, RE$EARCH MONEY is raising its subscription rates. Beginning May 31, the price of a basic subscription will rise to $625.00. On the plus side, the added price for internet access will fall to $70.

The Quebec government has balanced its books and is launching several initiatives to stimulate private sector investment including relatively minor measures in support of R&D and innovation. S&T measures include an increase in the R&D tax credit for smaller business from 35% to to 37.

Alberta has decided to take a go-slow approach to investing in its innovation capacity, despite having eliminated the provincial debt and riding high on massive increases in oil and gas royalties. The April 13 Budget provides only a small portion of the increases pledged to its endowments for health, science and engineering research.

QSV Biologics

Edmonton is home to Alberta’s first dedicated biologics manufacturing facility with the opening of QSV Biologics Ltd. QSV purchased an existing facility last year for $7 million from UK-based Xenova Group plc, giving QSV instant manufacturing capacity and a staff of 30.

A sense of foreboding is permeating the S&T community as Ottawa’s political crisis threatens to delay or derail dozens of initiatives from large-scale genomics projects and granting agency increases to market-oriented R&D in Atlantic Canada.

After five years in the planning stages, the Canadian Academy of Sciences (CAS) is nearly ready to begin operations, pending passage of legislation to release the $30 million in funding in received in the recent Budget.

The number of R&D employees in Canada increased by 39.9% between 1993 and 2002, despite a slight drop in 2002 due primarily to the downturn in the telecom sector. The greatest increase was experience in the business sector, which has enjoyed a rapid expansion every year except for 1996 and 2002.

A blue-chip group of S&T leaders from all sectors has identified six short-term commercialization initiatives it considers essential for improving Canadian commerce. The so-called ‘quick hits’ are contained in a new report that focuses on four key facets of the innovation chain — people, financing, research and institutions — with the objective of implementing them within the next 12 months while a more comprehensive strategic plan is developed.

Backers of a major geological mapping program are urging the Liberal government to find start-up funding from its existing fiscal framework after an apparent “oversight” that resulted in the initiative being ignored in the recent federal Budget.