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Attempts by the Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program to strengthen its role in social sciences research appears to have suffered a setback with the results of the latest competition for Phase II funding.

The six-year old Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT) consortium is being tagged as a potential contender to head up a national network of technology transfer facilities to be established across the country, linking federal laboratories to other players in the innovation system.

The Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT) presented its annual awards on May 30. Three awards were presented in the area of technology transfer. They went to:

MDS Nordion, Kanata ON, and the National Research Council (NRC) for the development of an improved technique for radiation treatment of cancer patients.

A concerted push by Canada’s colleges and institutes to play a greater role in the innovation system is being accelerated by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) with an action plan to raise awareness of current R&D activity, increase participation and attract a larger share of funding.

Two years after its formation, WestLink Innovation Network Ltd has launched its most ambitious project to date with an internship program to provide individuals with the skills required for technology transfer and commercialization of discoveries emanating from its 16 member organizations.

Data collected during Statistics Canada’s last major industrial R&D survey show that firms spend $460 million on biotechnology R&D in 1998, an increase of 4.3% from the previous year and the smallest increase in the past five years.

Federal biotechnology outlays are continuing on a rapid upward trajectory with $392 million in R&D and related scientific expenditures in FY99-00, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada.

The Ontario Budget may have been short on specific initiatives related to S&T and innovation, but the Harris government is clearly preparing for a province-wide economic and innovation strategy for implementation in the months ahead.

The federal and Ontario governments have called an apparent truce in their festering dispute over the handling of the province’s Super Allowance when calculating federal R&D assistance. As announced in the May 9 Budget, the province will suspend its use of the Super Allowance for 24 months and allow corporations to exclude their scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax credit from Ontario taxable income.

IFire Technology Inc, a subsidiary of Westaim Corp formed to take its flat panel display technology to market, has received a major cash injection from the federal government to bolster its strategy of penetrating the highly competitive business segment of large-screen flat panel televisions.