Article Type: Generic

Genome Canada (GC) has released its long awaited guidelines and criteria for its first group of research projects as it pushes forward with the process of establishing the five regional centres that form its operational core.

The French government and 16 of Canada’s largest universities have banded together to create the France-Canada Research Fund (FCRF), which promises to pump up to $5 million into collaborative research projects.

A new report is urging the federal government to monitor the implementation and impact of recent programs such as the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Government On-Line.

As the lead story in this issue illustrates, there is still some distance to go before a proposal for nearly $1 billion to fund research and training for information and communications technologies (ICT) is in shape to formally submit to government.

Intense discussions are underway to harmonize a major lobbying campaign to secure nearly $1 billion in federal funding over five years aimed at dramatically boosting the skills pipeline for rapidly expanding industries within the high technology sector.

The eMPOWR Canada bid to secure funding for research and training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) in the information and communications technologies (ICT) disciplines has incorporated the National Research Council’s (NRC) two-year old proposal for a photonics and optoelectronics prototyping facility.

The eMPOWR Canada proposal is being received with a certain degree of ambivalence by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). The granting agency has historically been the sole funder of university-based research of disciplines underpinning the ICT sector, and it is concerned that a new organization will create new financial pressures for the organization and may place undue burden on researchers already scrambling to keep up with increasing amounts of paperwork.

Venture capital, life sciences and technology mentoring are at the top of the Alberta Science and Innovation (ASI) department’s agenda as the province seeks ways to bolster its participation in the knowledge-based economy.

Key industries within the services sector are fuelling impressive growth in the performance of Canada’s industrial R&D, led by engineering and scientific services firms which are projected to post $968 million in R&D outlays in 2000, up 14.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has created a new Office of Sustainable Aquaculture (OSA) and received $32.5 million over the next five to conduct research into the science and technology surrounding aquaculture.