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Feds strike high profile at Bio 2002

Ottawa is injecting nearly $300 million into early stage venture capital financing and skills training for biotechnology — two areas repeatedly cited as requiring urgent attention if Canada is to commandeer the sector and become a leading innovation nation.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has launched a new $88-million program to train health researchers for the future over the next six years. The Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research (STIHR) is funding 51 transdisciplinary research projects at an average of $300,000 annually.

Ontario Budget

The Ontario government is committing nearly $800 million to keep the province’s innovation engines primed in a Budget that demonstrates the extent to which the mantra of science and technology has successfully penetrated the halls of Queen’s Park.

The federal government is being encouraged to create new programs for college research and the indirect costs of federally funded research as part of a wide ranging set of recommendations, including a renewed call for a chief science advisor reporting directly to Parliament.

Latest data show underlying strength in Canadian corporate R&D spending
The latest data on R&D spending in Canada’s industrial sector underscore the surprising resiliency and shifting sectoral composition of the nation’s top ranked performers.

The Science Council of British Columbia (SCBC) has dismissed one third of its 24 staff members following the government’s decision to eliminate three programs representing the majority of its operating budget.

Canada should allow patents on higher life forms —other than humans — and amend its Patent Act to allow for research and experimental use of patented processes and products. These recommendations were among 13 included in the final report of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, which was released June 7 prior to the opening of the Bio2002 conference in Toronto.

With the creation and funding of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the federal government has unleashed a $4-billion research colossus that has transformed Canada’s scientific landscape. With money and talent flowing into universities and colleges across the country, the post-secondary research enterprise has blossomed, but that dramatic expansion in research activity is not occurring in isolation.

The Univ of Alberta (U of A) is amalgamating its three research services offices into a single powerhouse to deal with a rapid build-up in research activity that’s expected to reach $500 million annually within four years.

Score one for brain drain. World renowned geneticist Dr Lap-Chee Tsui has resigned from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) to accept a position as vice chancellor at Hong Kong Univ, effective this September.