By Roseann O’Reilly Runte

Roseann O’Reilly Runte is the Past President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, President of Runte and Associates Inc., and author of “Canadians Who Innovate: The Trailblazers and Ideas that Are Changing the World.”

When Canada experienced a “brain drain” 25 years ago, the federal government stepped up to create the Canada Foundation for Innovation which provided the labs and equipment needed to attract and retain faculty and students in Canada. That investment paid off, research intensified and economic opportunities expanded. 

Today, the United States faces a possible brain drain due to changing policies and funding cutbacks. Canadian leaders are beginning to think about the possibility of attracting new talent while encouraging our own graduates to remain here.

In France, the Université d’Aix Marseille has announced a “Safe Place for Science” and proposes to bring 15 scientists from the U.S. for three years. Within 24 hours of the announcement, they received 30 applications.

Universities will certainly wish to avail themselves of this opportunity to recruit top researchers but most will likely be able to afford to recruit only a handful due to financial constraints.

This is where governments, businesses and institutions could work together on a shared vision that would bring not only researchers but companies to Canada, provide jobs for the top Canadian scholars so they will remain here, create critical mass and build the economy. We can not only take advantage of this opportunity, but we can succeed as never before. To do so, we need a plan.

Two successful ventures point the way. One is the DMZ Zone at Toronto Metropolitan University which has been replicated across the country. Students learn how to create a startup business with the assistance of faculty and local business owners. And they succeed admirably in creating small businesses and startups!

The second is the innovation supercluster initiative that funded businesses, challenging them to work with  academic institutions and communities in their region. This proved to be a good investment in networking and bolstering existing companies.

Today a new initiative is required. Large companies are attracted by talent pools of academic and research excellence that include creative energy and expertise.

We can take a page from the Silicon Valley playbook where success is enabled by the strong talent pool drawn from many institutions in the region. In Canada we have a smaller population and institutions spread across the land. However, by focusing on specific areas that build on our strengths and align with possible business and industrial development, we can draw talent together and begin to grasp the key to success.

We need to act quickly and bring together business and academic leaders with governments to identify specific fields that are growing and where we combine academic and research strength. We must act with speed, invite open discussion and brief submissions, and do a rapid review of proposals.

Let us imagine creating a number of talent pools across the country. The Canada Research Chair program already exists. The government might offer to fund a number of new Visiting Chairs (that could be quickly mobilized and permit rotation of talent), clustered in specific fields and include for each a number of scholarships for college, polytechnic, undergraduate and graduate students and postdoc fellowships. This would bring together the top talent from across the country.

With the Chairs, scholarships and fellowships, a pool could be established for under $10 million a year. This is a very small investment with the possibility of huge returns, creating “Idea Powerhouses” that would attract companies wishing to hire the students and graduates, and to join researchers in the lab or commission research.

Think of the field of photonics which is on the cusp of new possibilities prime for industrial development. Consider agricultural development and food security, and biomedical research to build on current investments. Quantum technologies are taking off and data storage will be enhanced if we have ready pools of talent to attract companies to establish headquarters nearby.

To illustrate the concept, students will still study physics at a number of institutions across Canada but those interested specifically in photonics would be attracted to one place that might combine several academic institutions and National Research Council sites located in proximity. Providing scholarships at different levels means that we would be building the skills needed to facilitate industrial growth.

Countries around the world will be competing for the best researchers. We can make this a triple-win for Canada.

By planning and working together, supported by a truly modest investment, we can retain Canadian students who currently seek employment outside the country, retain and bring back our best researchers, and welcome colleagues not only from the U.S. but from around the globe to join in unique opportunities that will be not only safe spaces for research but an environment in which businesses will thrive.

This small investment would provide a boost to Canada’s economy, link the talent of our promising researchers to employment, and develop new, innovative processes and products that will change the world.

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