Editorial - 23-19

Alignment is the name of the game as Canada's S&T policy makers seek to streamline and re-focus their efforts towards greater commercial and social outcomes. The rush to re-align organizations created ad hoc over the past several years is becoming a national and provincial pastime with Alberta and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council the latest converts (pages 1 & 5).

Re-assessing the effectiveness and impact of key S&T assistance and support programs makes excellent sense. Pressure to demonstrate economic and social impacts, combined with the proliferation of serious competition globally, means Canada must think strategically for the long term.

For Alberta, the grouping of its S&T assets into corporations is intended to boost deal flow between industry and academic and government institutions. NSERC's re-alignment of programs facilitating academic-industry collaboration has similar objectives.

While these efforts can be seen as preliminary steps towards greater integration of scientific discovery and commercial outcomes, they are both timely and important as indicators of what Canada's innovation system will look like in the future. What's required now is greater cooperation and collaboration across jurisdictions. The provinces are stepping forward to plan joint strategy but so far Ottawa is nowhere to be seen. The last-minute decision to bail on a meeting of provincial S&T ministers and staff is short-sighted. If Canada is to complete globally in the marketplace of ideas, the more players at the table the better.