Alberta launches permanent endowment to fund since and engineering research and unveils new economic development blueprint

Twenty years after the idea was first conceived, Alberta has finally moved to establish a $500 billion endowment for science and engineering, with the potential to ramp up to $1 billion by 2005 if oil and gas revenues remain strong. The creation of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Science and Engineering Research (AHFSER) was the highlight of the provincial Budget tabled February 24 by treasurer Stockwell Day and is positioned as part of a carefully conceived strategy to ensure the province becomes a major global player in the knowledge-based economy.

Modelled closely on the enormously successful Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR), the AMFSER is a permanent endowment to be governed by an independent board of trustees, charged with maintaining its capital worth while retaining and recruiting a critical mass of scientists and engineers. The board of trustees and interim executive director of the new arm's length organization are expected to be in place by May, with the first competition set for the fourth quarter of 2000. It's expected that each dollar awarded will leverage another $2-3 from federal funds and other sources, giving the new foundation enormous financial clout.

The AHFMR was launched in 1980 with $300 million and has grown to more than $1 billion, with annual awards projected to reach $40-50 million this year. Given the initial size of the new foundation, awards will likely be about half that amount until investments begin to produce returns and more money is added to the base.

"This new fund is a real key. It's long term legacy work," says Dr Bob Church, chair of the 20-member Alberta Science and Research Authority (ASRA). "There's a very tough recruitment atmosphere and we have to create the environment that's competitive salary wise and provides the tools that are required."

Church notes that the legislation that will pass the foundation into law is "heavy with symbolism." Titled Bill 1, it's the first of the millenium and will be introduced by premier Ralph Klein, signaling Alberta's determination to diversify from a resource-based economy.

The AHFSER is a direct outcome of Alberta's new information and communications technology (ICT) strategy, which was developed and unveiled last year by ASRA's ICT committee chaired by John Brick, Nortel Networks Corp's provincial account VP. The strategy provided the political impetus to finally act on a concept hatched at the same time as the AHFMR but left to languish due to general indifference to science and technology issues. The fuel the made it a reality was the skyrocketing price of oil and gas which flooded the provincial treasury with million in extra dollars.

"It's a matter of windows of opportunity. Alberta is doing very well with oil at $30 a barrel, making one-time expenditures of this magnitude possible. It's an ideal way for the government to invest a substantial amount of money but not commit to any expenditures from treasury," says Roger Palmer, DM of the Ministry of Innovation and Science (MIS). "If revenues from oil and natural gas continue, we will revisit this decision and add to the foundation."

Palmer says the amount of money now controlled by ASRA is more than $95 million, most of which is dedicated to research, early development and the early stages of commercialization. He acknowledges that work at the other end of the innovation still requires attention.

"We've got quite a bit of work at the tail end, which includes venture capital and the whole area of incubators. We're beginning to move in these areas because they're our next weak link in the innovation system."

Like its sister foundation, the AHFSER will primarily fund basic research at the university level, opening up opportunities for collaborative funding of projects that cross disciplines. Dr Matthew Spence, president and CEO of the AHFMR, says the principals behind the two foundations are already holding talks to explore common synergies and areas where they can combine their organizational and financial muscle.

"We'll be crossing back and forth all the time. I'm very enthusiastic about it. There's definitely a lot of potential for co-funding - taking a project and splitting it between the two foundations," he says. "We see a huge synergy with the new foundation, because it's part of a continuum. For instance, biology filters into engineering, and the health services involve fundamental mathematics and statistics."

Spence also defends the province's decision to create another arm's length organization to deal with science and engineering. Like the health sciences, he contends that those disciplines will benefit greatly from a long term, sustained commitment that such a structure can provide. The new foundation will also base its decisions on research excellence, adding that the level of awards should be based on the availability of appropriate project proposals of sufficiently high calibre.

"I'm a booster for this way of setting things up, particularly in areas related to the research and the advancement of knowledge," says Spence. "We need to match capacity in the system but it needs to be built over several years. The support of basic science should be a reaction to where the investigators want to go, but it's also a good bell weather. We have to be proactive as well."

NEW ECONOMIC PLAN

The creation of the AHFSER comes less three weeks after Alberta unveiled a new economic blueprint for the next 20 years. Entitled Get Ready Alberta: Strengthening the Alberta Advantage, the economic development strategy foregrounds knowledge, research and innovation as the key pillars of the province's economy. By 2005, Alberta plans to have in place a high speed telecommunications network throughout the province, create 35,000 jobs in the technology sector and increase R&D investment from all sources to $2 billion. The strategy was spearheaded at the political level by a Ministers Task Force led by Jon Havelock (economic development) and including Lorne Taylor (innovation and science), Dr Lyle Oberg (learning), Ed Stelmach (infrastructure) and Gary Mar (environment). MIS has issued a request for proposals inviting telecommunications firms to develop proposals for the new high speed network. The aim is to connect every home, business, classroom, library and city by 2005. "And the really important programs haven't even been announced yet," says Church.

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