Alberta set to unveil four new corporations to better connect science and industry

Still seeking federal engagement

Alberta's S&T community will mark the New Year with four new corporations designed to better connect players in the provincial innovation system and beyond. The dramatic re-alignment of its key programs reduces the number of S&T organizations from 11 to four, and is part of a long-awaited strategy to connect industry with scientific expertise and build on the billions of dollars Alberta has invested in its research base.

The new corporations fall under the umbrella name of Alberta Innovates and will be overseen by the Alberta Research and Innovation Authority (ARIA), succeeding the work of the former Alberta Science and Research Authority. The new corporations are: Bio Solutions, Energy and Environment Solutions, Health Solutions and Technology Futures. The latter will absorb the Alberta Research Council, Alberta Ingenuity, nanoAlberta and iCORE and is being assembled under the direction of transition team coordinator Bob Marshall, VP programs at Alberta Ingenuity.

Within government, the new Alberta Research and Innovation Connector service will provide an administrative window through which entrepreneurs, researchers and investors can gain access to information and support.

The re-alignment follows on the province's re-focusing of the provincial education system, dubbed Campus Alberta. It also drew initial inspiration from the 2007 Task Force on Value-Added and Technology Commercialization led by David Martin, executive chairman of Smart Technologies Inc. Many of that task force's recommendations have already been implemented through the province's Technology Commercialization Strategy which included initiatives such as such as innovation vouchers, a new venture capital fund, product commercialization centres and a provincial R&D tax credit.

"We spend in Alberta billions of dollars on research every year when you add everything up and when you look at the strengths we have in energy and the environment, life sciences, healthcare, in our ICT areas, in nanotechnology, these are international strengths for us," says Doug Horner, minister of Advanced Education and Technology (AET). "If we can commercialize the products and developments here in the province, you're going to end up creating wealth … If you grow the pie of wealth, you don't have to go back to the tax base, you don't have to raise individual tax, corporate tax (and) frankly that helps you with the social side."

The new alignment has also been shaped by AET staff and former AET DM Dr Bob Fessenden, a key architect of Alberta's innovation system for the past 20 years and currently DM of the Premier's Council on Economic Strategy. In a speech and panel discussion at the recent InnoWest conference in Edmonton, Fessenden said the rationale for the new provincial structure reflects a gradual shift in thinking about innovation from an S&T push agenda to one in which outcomes are paramount. With Alberta's transition from a low-cost to a high-cost environment, he said vision, pragmatism and foresight are required to extend the benefits of its resource wealth into commercial benefits stemming from a know-ledge economy.

"There are incredible opportunities in many areas. We need to find the will to frame things and come at them with an integrated approach," said Fessenden. "Why did Canada never develop a supply side in the forestry industry … We need to develop the sector of the economy which is the supply side to the resource side."

The distinguishing characteristic of the new provincial innovation system is the creation of four new corporations. Horner says corporate status allows for the maintenance of funding mechanisms and avoids the necessity of going back to government year after year for re-funding. Corporate status also greatly reduces the number of boards that oversee strategic direction and operations resulting in a more effective utilization of resources. The amalgamation of the current S&T organizations will also provide each player with greater awareness of what the other players in the system are doing and the potential for greater interaction.

Many of the current organizations are well known provincial, nationally and internationally and by combining them into new entities, there is some concern that their brands will be lost. Horner disagrees and says he has no problem with the new corporation continuing to use the names of the previous organizations.

"We have no problem going out there and saying this is Technology Futures - Alberta Research Council or Technology Futures - iCORE. And the last thing we want to lose is the Alberta Heritage Foundation for medical Research," he says. "But we also want to turn things around with the Alberta Innovates brand as well. That's the connection and the key to make the whole system work."

position of strength

In many ways, Alberta is in an envious position of being able to implement a new approach to innovation from a position of strength. Using the themes of alignment, synchronization, cooperation and collaboration, the provincial innovation agenda can build upon significant previous investments in the research base, new financial instruments and a tax and regulatory environment

"We started with Campus Alberta and then moved to Alberta Innovates and then you go to the commercialization mode," says Horner. "Tying it altogether is really part and parcel of making it simple so people can say, ‘Now I know where I'm supposed to go'. Before it was ‘I don't know where I'm going or where I'm supposed to go. .. We had this dog's breakfast of Alberta institutes and we need to bring it together through alignment and focus and build on the strengths that Alberta has ... If you're an entrepreneur and you've got an idea, you can easily and readily access where you are in the value chain of your product development."

While the provincial government has been instrumental in developing a new approach to innovation, officials recognize that Alberta must be integrated into the national agenda. Last month, Alberta hosted the second annual meeting of provincial ministers responsible for research and innovation and discussed the possible implementation of a matrix of provincial S&T priorities to avoid duplication of efforts and investments. Notably absent for the second year running were federal representatives, making the task of coordination, cooperation and collaboration more challenging (R$, October 7/08).

feds not at the table

"I have to say I was a little disappointed that our federal compatriots didn't show ... Up until two week prior to the meeting they were coming,", says Horner, who hosted the event. "We have a good plan that the deputies are going to work on in terms of assessing the priorities of the individual provinces and then overlaying that with the priorities of the federal government's S&T Strategy ... With the ministers of Ontario and Quebec we're going to look at perhaps having a meeting with our federal counterparts ... We want to get that engagement and we think we have a proposal that could we provide that's a win-win across the board."

Fessenden also stresses the importance of forging an integrated national approach to the innovation agenda. In describing the role of government in innovation, public policy sets the stage for developing a knowledge-based economy and therefore has a large role to play in value creation through technology.

"A huge challenge we face in Canada is a very fragmented public policy environment. It also includes the fragmentation between levels of government," he says. "Government's role begins with leadership and vision with an outcome that can be broadly understood and supported ... Prime minister (Stephen) Harper's use of the global energy superpower phrase has potential (as a visionary objective) but hasn't yet been followed up by the second requirement, which is to put a program and resources into place that can actually accomplish the vision."

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