Editorial - 28-13

With the fall season upon us, new research funding announcements are coming fast and furious. From new granting council awards to the funding of more research and commercialization networks, the S&T community is forging ahead with new programs, projects, models and strategies all designed to enhance Canada's scientific and economic output.

Of particular note are new initiatives emanating from the National Research Council, which is forging in ahead new directions as part of its transformation into a national research and technology organization. In recent days, NRC has unveiled its new Arctic program to facilitate economic development with minimal disruption to the fragile environment. It has also announced a major breakthrough — pilot-scale production of boron nitride nano-tubes — that will enhance the agency's collaboration with Defence R&D Canada on new light-weight materials.

What all these programs have in common is a much closer coupling of national scientific and economic objectives. Industry is engaged — often at very early stages — in these initiatives representing the critical receptor capacity and market pull at the heart of the federal government's current S&T policy.

That market-oriented lens is expected to remain front and centre of the forthcoming refresh of the 2007 S&T Strategy. With its release anticipated some time in October, it will hopefully provide even more precise and nuanced insight into the government's plans and expectations for S&T. Now if only it could find the political courage to reverse the disturbing reductions in funding.