Article Type: Generic

By Debbie Lawes

Science and commercialization have taken a quantum leap in political priority following the December 12 appointment of Joe Fontana to the newly created parliamentary secretary for Science & Small Business — one of three beefed up secretarial positions reporting directly to prime minister Paul Martin.

The man chosen to occupy the most powerful S&T position in the county says that enhancing commercialization and industrial innovation are the most pressing issues facing the new Liberal government. When Dr Arthur Carty assumes the job of national science advisor (NSA) on April 1, he plans to move quickly to advise prime minister Paul Martin on approaches to unlocking the nation’s growing reservoir of knowledge.

Federal expenditures on S&T are slated to increase 6.8% in FY03-04 to $8.5 billion, a respectable rate of growth compared to the year before but far less than the impressive 21.8% increase between FY00-01 and FY01-02.

Lack of cooperation cited

A scathing auditor’s report has revealed that Ontario’s previous Progressive Conservative government offloaded a huge portion of its S&T spending to a quasi-private sector organization but received virtually no information on whether the public funding was being properly spent.

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) continues to build on its five-year campaign to modify the investment tax credits used for industrial R&D. It has sponsored a comparative international study of R&D tax incentive regimes and hopes to use its findings to urge the federal government to make its flagship R&D tax credit program refundable to all firms regardless of size or profitability.

The MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Discovery District in Toronto, Guelph’s Bioenterprise Corp and alternative renewable fuels are among the Ontario projects slated to share an estimated $4.7 million in funding under a new $44.

The federal government has struck an arm’s length institute to advise on policy and innovation issues related to the agriculture and agri-food sectors.

The Canadian Agricultural Policy Research Institute will be chaired by Gaétan Lussier, former president of Weston Bakeries Quebec and current chair of the federal government’s external advisory committee on smart regulation.

The corporate casualties in Ottawa’s photonics sector continue to mount with the failure of yet another high-profile optical start-up. Innovance Networks will likely cease operations after laying off its entire staff this week.

Spearheaded by Alberta Research Council

The federal government is being asked to commit at least $500 million annually for the next five years to support a new, multi-faceted commercialization initiative as the critical next-step in its innovation agenda.

“No R&D, no future”

One of Canada’s most prominent technology entrepreneurs is reviving the call to eliminate capital gains taxes for early stage investors in technology start-ups. Terry Matthews, chairman and CEO of March Networks Corp, says angel investors need such a stimulus to ensure that emerging firms receive badly needed funding and to offset the lack of true venture capital (VC) in the market.