eMPOWR strikes unique alliance with NSERC as fall lobbying campaign for federal support moves into high gear

EMPOWR Canada Inc is set to become the first organization to form a national innovation platform (NIP) with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), a novel new mechanism that would allow the flow of targeted research funding without having to create a new organization. eMPOWER officials hope the new entity will allow the federal government to support its campaign to increase the supply of highly qualified personnel (HQP) to the strategic technology sectors it represents.

The details for announcing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NSERC are now being finalized, with a release expected in the near future.

Since the announcement of the NIP concept earlier this year, NSERC has been working with various groups to establish new entities (R$, January 29/01). In addition to eMPOWR, NSERC is set to announce a NIP for nanotechnology, a field of research the agency currently supports with more than $21 million in annual funding.

Once the NSERC-eMPOWR MOU is formally announced, the much larger task of convincing the government to finance the venture lies ahead. eMPOWR is still projecting a $500-million price tag to fully implement the venture and is seeking a five-year stream of funding, although it’s willing to accept funding on a year-to-year basis.

“This is a whole new concept for supporting university research and graduate research work. It provides support with NSERC infrastructure but is defined by the project at hand,” says Dr Douglas Barber, a chief architect and co-chair of the eMPOWR campaign. “This will relieve some of the difficulties the federal government has of creating another entity. The funds would flow through NSERC.”

eMPOWR is receiving valuable assistance in the areas of communications and political lobbying from the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) which came on board when the initial $500,000 in industrial funding for the campaign ran low. In fact, the eMPOWR campaign has become a key piece of the ITAC agenda and is included whenever it makes presentations to government.

eMPOWR is an acronym for the enabling and emerging technologies of microelectronics, photonics/optoelectronics, and wireless/radio engineering. They are essential to the sectors they represent but are also core technologies for information systems in general, underpinning all other knowledge-based sectors.

The industries that make up the eMPOWR sectors have been heavily hit by the technology meltdown. But all parties agree that the long term shortage of HQP will only get worse without substantial support for the hiring of more professors to conduct research and train students.

Many continue to assert that the eMPOWR sectors are capable of returning to annual growth rates of 20-25%, exacerbating an HQP shortage that has only been temporarily relieved. It takes six years to produce new talent from Canadian universities, which is why eMPOWR has also been working with Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) on ways to increase the flow of foreign HQP into Canadian industry.

FALL LOBBYING CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY

eMPOWR officials have also targeted officials in the industry and finance departments, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and are confident that their message is being heard and understood. Going into the critical fall lobbying season, they will be targeting politicians whose support will make or break the campaign. The government’s goal of moving Canada from 15th to 5th in R&D spending among the industrialized nations provides an ideal forum for debate.

“We don’t have the capacity to educate people (in the eMPOWR disciplines) and the government has set a goal of moving from 15th to 5th, so there is bound to be a discussion on this,” says Barber. “It takes a long time to make changes for how we prepare our young people for the future. Other countries are moving on this but Canada is still running the most neutral of all the major countries. We’re hands off and there’s no financial allocation to push the strategic view of the knowledge-based economy... During the 1960s, universities doubled in size but not in the areas of science and engineering. We whacked ourselves out of line in the proportion of faculty in the arts and science so that now there’s two times as many in Canada as in the rest of the world.”

For NSERC, the creation of its first two NIPs is a critical milestone in its ongoing efforts to boost its base funding. By putting in place mechanisms which provide targeted research funding and extend the agency’s reach into the cycle of innovation, it’s hoped that government will be convinced of the merits of its arguments.

Barber, who also sits on NSERC’s governing council, says NSERC is to be congratulated for its creativity and perseverance. “I understand both sides of this quite well. For the past eight years, new research funding has gone through new bodies and not NSERC.” he says. “Council and staff were right in redefining how NSERC will work.”

human resources study requested

In a related development, HRDC has issued a request for proposals for a $80,000 study on behalf of the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium (SMC). The study will analyze the human resources issues in Canada’s eMPOWR-based economy, building on a study completed last year by eMPOWR.

More specifically, it will “examine the knowledge needs of Canada in developing and using components and systems employing eMPOWR technologies for economic growth and competitiveness”, assessing demand and adequacy of knowledge supply.

Barber welcomes the decision by government to fund the report, but he cautions that attitudes entrenched before the concept of the knowledge-based economy took hold could limit its usefulness.

“I don’t know if HRDC can make the adjustments necessary to make use of this study. They are stuck on industry sectors and job descriptions, which don’t cut it in the knowledge-based economy,” he says. “We’ve had discussions with them but it’s hard for them to recalibrate and change their thinking. The same goes for Statistics Canada, which still uses SIC (standard industry classification) codes. This has to change. Knowledge is pervasive and used everywhere, so we need a whole spectrum of descriptives.”

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