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When Ottawa’s National Capital Research Institute of Telecommunications (NCIT) opened its doors in 2000, the future for collaborative research between industry, government and academia couldn’t have seemed brighter.

The Canada Council for the Arts has awarded the 2002 Killam Prizes to five outstanding Canadians. The $100,000 prizes were made to Lap-Chee Tsui (health sciences), Robert Vaughan Moody (natural sciences), Nicholas Georganas (engineering), Harry Arthurs (social sciences) and Ian Hacking (humanities) at an April 18th ceremony at the Governor General’s residence in Ottawa.

SSHRC Shocker

The Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) may axe the next competition of its largest research grants program unless the federal government comes through with a major funding increase.

Fate to be decided over the next year

Dr Fraser Mustard and a group of influential colleagues are preparing to tackle one the most vexing dilemmas facing Canadian health research. With the recent creation of the not-for-profit Canadian Biotechnology Commercialization Initiative (CBCI), its backers hope to avoid the so-called valley of death that has stalled or diluted the commercial potential of promising research as it moves from the lab bench to the marketplace.

Inno-centre Canada (ICC) will need at least another year to complete its Canada-wide network of company creation and mentoring facilities as it continues negotiations with potential partners including the federal and provincial governments.

Canada’s remarkable status as a global leader in research networking is poised to continue with the construction of a radically new network allowing peer-to-peer collaboration between researchers regardless of location or bandwidth requirements.

Genome Canada (GC) has announced funding of $155 million for a second round of 34 large-scale projects that it hopes will accelerate Canada’s objective of moving further up the ranks of nations performing genome and genome-related research.

The British Columbia government is being urged to brand the province as a world leader in environmentally benign or enhancing technologies and expand the supply and flexibility of venture capital, as part of the second quarterly report from the new Premier’s Technology Council (PTC).

The BC government has implemented two key recommendations from the first quarterly report of the Premier’s Technology Council (PTC). The announcement that it will spend $150 million over five years to fund 825 new student spaces to double the number of graduates in computer science and electrical and computer engineering was made April 15 upon the release of the PTC’s second report.

Industry Canada is set to take the consultation phase of its innovation strategy public after several weeks of private discussions with industry. In the coming weeks, a multi-track process will be announced including government participation in events mounted by external organizations representing industry, academia and the non-profit sector.