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A study launched by the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) is calling for the creation of a network of centres to stimulate commercialization in Ontario’s information and communication technologies (ICT) sector.

November 9, 2004 at the Ottawa Congress Centre: The Fourth Annual RE$EARCH MONEY Conference, “Commercialization: What’s Working, What’s Not” will bring business leaders together with policy makers and the research community to look critically at different models for commercialization being practiced and proposed around the country.

Statistics Canada is pulling the plug on its annual service bulletin detailing the expenditures of provincial research organizations (PROs), reflecting their dwindling number and shifts in how provincial governments engage in R&D and other scientific activities.

Modest measures seen as holding pattern

Ontario’s new Liberal administration is sending positive signals that innovation remains a top provincial priority, with the announcement of two new programs geared towards commercialization.

The Ontario government has cancelled the Premier’s Platinum Medal for Research Excellence (PPMRE), a four-year-old program established by the previous administration and one of the largest single research awards in the world.

Enthusiastic response to British Columbia’s improved Small Business Venture Capital Act (SBVCA) has resulted in at least one disgruntled small fund manager. Mike Volker, founder of the Western Universities Technology Innovation Fund (WUTIF), says the government arbitrarily suspended his fundraising well before the deadline, forcing him to turn away investors ready to sign contracts.

The British Columbia government is ramping up two new organizations that will form the basic structure of its innovation platform for the foreseeable future. Leading Edge BC (LEBC) and the BC Innovation Council — created through the merger of the BC Advanced Systems Institute (ASI) and the Innovation and Science Council of BC (R$, April 26/04) — are being positioned to manage the province’s S&T assets and promote BC as a technology-rich jurisdiction with several clusters ripe for new investment.

As it heads into the last 18 months of its five-year mandate, the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN) is building an impressive body of knowledge on clusters and other aspects of regional innovation systems that is garnering international attention and a stellar reputation within Canadian policy circles.

The campaign by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to undergo a major transformation is prompting the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN) to take a two pronged approach to renewal of its mandate.

The Fourth Annual RE$EARCH MONEY Conference, “Commercialization: What’s Working, What’s Not” will bring business leaders together with policy makers and the research community to look critically at different models for commercialization being practiced and proposed around the country.