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The government’s primary vehicle for national science and technology advice has been raised from the dead. More than a year after its last official meeting, the Advisory Council on Science and Technology (ACST) met with Industry minister Alan Rock the day before the National Innovation Summit in Toronto.

Canada must pay to play in emerging field

A multi-sectoral group advocating dramatically increased spending on nanotechnology research is developing a proposal for federal funding on par with the US, Japan and Europe.

The University of Ottawa is lining up partners and funding for a $40-45-million Proteomics Research Institute that would open in 2004 and be modeled on the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) at the Univ of Alberta.

An influential task force led by Roger Martin has issued its first annual report with four key recommendations for how Ontario can begin to eliminate the province’s so-called prosperity gap. The task force calls for changes in marginal tax rates, increased investment in post-secondary education and infrastructure, a recognition of the importance of urban centres and heightened aspirations by the population as a whole.

After years of planning and lobbying, the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC) is now a certainty, with the official announcement of $43 million in federal and provincial funding over five years.

Venture capital (VC) investment is showing the possible early signs of recovery after a disastrous second quarter this year. The latest data from Macdonald & Associates Ltd on behalf of the Canadian Venture Capital Association show that investment experienced a quarter-over-quarter increase of 7% to $475 million.

Canada’s innovation strategy lacks an international context and fails to account for the impact of an increasing number of nations adopting similar approaches to growing their economies, argues a comprehensive new paper prepared for the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC).

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) would be the third largest beneficiary under a proposed new federal surtax on health care. If approved by Parliament, the agency’s share of the surtax would boost its budget by $440 million annually.

Technology development and innovation are being touted as a major component of Canada’s strategy for meeting its commitments under the Kyoto climate change protocol. The first widely publicized indications of how the federal government plans to use science and technology (S&T) in the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contained in Achieving Our Commitments Together, Ottawa’s draft plan for its national implementation strategy released October 25.

Opinions differ on the outcome

The federal government’s best chance for transforming the way it performs science and technology (S&T) appears to have been cut off at the knees just weeks before the submission of a memorandum to Cabinet (MC) seeking approval of new funds.