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Canada’s schools of business administration say the federal and provincial governments must move quickly to increase funding for research and personnel for management education to plug a major gap in the national innovation system.

More than 50 researchers from a dozen universities across Canada are banding together to propose a multidisciplinary research effort into Canadian innovation systems. Tentatively entitled the Innovations Systems Research Network, the initiative has made the initial cut under the Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI) program funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

The federal government’s efforts to rebuild Canada’s research infrastructure for the 21st century took another major step forward with the latest award announcements from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Eight months after being withdrawn for further study, Statistics Canada has released its annual industrial R&D survey as part of a much larger package of data detailing private sector R&D activity and its ranking internationally (Catalogue number 88-202-XIB).

September 13-14 in Toronto: Strengthening the Relationship with Canadians – Government Online. Sponsor: International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC) Australia. Featuring a presentation on the Australian experience of putting government online and a Q&A dinner session.

CIHR awards $195 million over five years
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has announced its first major round of grants and awards since officially replacing the Medical Research Council (MRC) earlier this year (R$, June 9/00).

Ontario-based university research into electrical and computer engineering and advanced communications received a $35-million boost with two donations from Ted and Loretta Rogers of the Rogers communications empire, which could lever another $40 million from federal, provincial and academic sources.

CANARIE Inc is developing a bold new initiative that it hopes will maintain the global leadership in high-speed research networking that Canada attained with its optical CA*net3 network. But before the proposal to usher in a radical new design in optical networking can become reality, the advanced network agency must first convince the federal government to underwrite the $50-150 million required to make Canada a global hub for research networking.

The National Research Council’s emerging technology cluster strategy has received a huge shot in the arm with the official announcement of $110 million over five years in new funding to implement several technology initiatives throughout Atlantic Canada.

The Atlantic Innovation Fund is the largest single component of the federal government’s Atlantic Investment Partnership (AIP) funding strategy to bring the eastern provinces’ technological expertise and capacity up to par with the rest of the country.