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A new Ottawa centre to conduct stem cell and gene therapy research has received commitments of more than $35 million from a variety of funding sources, helping to build critical mass in the city’s burgeoning health research sector.

The Quebec government has extended its increasingly popular tax exemption legislation for foreign workers to the university sector, offering a five-year tax holiday to applicable professors in several key technology areas.

Canada’s Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders listing is back. After a hiatus of one year, the popular table and analysis of Canada’s biggest R&D spenders is now being prepared for publication in June. In addition to the listing, an in-depth report on Canadian R&D trends will also be available at the same time.

Molecular Templates receives $1.5M in seed funding
Milestone Medica Corp, Sunnybrook Working Ventures Medical Breakthrough Fund and a private UK-based investor have banded together to finance and launch Molecular Templates Inc (MTI), an applied proteomics spin-off based on the work of Dr Jean Gariépy.

Canada’s largest research granting agency is forging ahead with a series of new initiatives that mark a major overhaul of the 22-year-old organization, moving it further than ever into the cycle of innovation.

Demand for new innovation-related spending is sparking debate over the central role apparently assumed by the Finance department in the process of selecting and promoting new science and technology (S&T) initiatives.

The Canadian arm of the newly merged GlaxoSmithKline plc is hoping that the combination of the two companies will create a powerful lure for attracting new corporate funding into its growing R&D operations and expanding partnerships with universities, the biotechnology sector and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Nortel Networks Corp has increased its grip as Canada’s dominant corporate R&D spender with explosive new data contained in its year-end results. For FY00 ending December 31, the Mississauga ON-based telecommunications giant racked up Cdn$6.

Health Canada has taken the lead in implementing a key plank of the 1999 SAGE report with the appointment of Dr Kevin Keough as its chief scientist. Keough, Memorial Univ’s VP research and international relations, will take up the newly created post April 2 by taking a three-year executive interchange that could stretch to five years.