Article Type: Generic

A new report by veteran high-tech financier Denny Doyle is calling on industry and the federal government to take steps to discourage the takeover of promising Canadian companies by foreign buyers. The new study conducted by Doyletech Corp for the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) says that Canada needs to initiate a series of measures to improve the adds of growing high-tech firms into viable multinational companies.

The Canada Council has announced this year’s recipients of the Killam Prizes. The five awards, each valued at $100,000, will be presented at a dinner and ceremony on June 2 in Toronto. This year’s winners are:

Dr James Arthur (natural sciences).

Ottawa’s Innovation Agenda and the government’s focus on commercialization have stimulated the launching of two promising initiatives within the federal bureaucracy. Both are being positioned to be in line for consideration in the next Budget cycle to take advantage of what’s seen as the best environment for federal S&T in many years.

A Toronto organization comprised of members from the financial, academic and consulting communities is weighing in with an Ontario-based commercialization proposal targetting early-stage companies. The $500-million financing and mentoring plan — featuring several industry-specific, public-private venture capital funds — comes from the recently formed Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA) committee, tasked to develop the Ontario Next Step Commercialization Program (ONSCP).

Follow on from new 20-year plan

Alberta has completed a high-level alignment of industrial priorities and government policy with the release of a new value-added strategy in which S&T, R&D and innovation figure prominently.

Broad-based calls for accountability for public spending and obligations stemming from international trade agreements could impact on the way in which Canada’s flagship business assistance program invests in private sector technology projects.

Genome Canada has provided a major boost to Canada’s efforts in the area of applied health genomics with the selection of 14 large-scale projects worth $123 million, with half of the funding provided the arm’s length agency and the other half from a variety of partners.

Foreign venture capital (VC) is playing an increasingly critical role in the financing of Canadian companies, particularly in follow-on rounds where larger amounts of capital are required. A major new study shows that foreign VC has jumped from just 3% of the total in 1998 to more than 26% in 2002, as US firms discovered a wealth of opportunities north of the border.

RE$EARCH MONEY Special Feature

The 14-year limit on financial support from the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program is coming under fire again as five original Networks face a funding cut-off at the end of this fiscal year.

Beating the system

Three of the five original Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) are determined not to be casualties of the program’s highly controversial 14-year funding limit. Facing a financial crunch at the end of this fiscal year, they are working hard at securing new financial resources to allow their networking, training and collaborative research activity to continue.