Editorial - 16-8

The federal government is once again on the hunt for an effective S&T policy to guide and coordinate an increasingly critical component of the nation’s future health and prosperity. The public portion of the innovation agenda’s consultation phase has been launched and Industry minister Alan Rock is apparently committed to pushing through a full blown strategy by the end of the year.

We wish the minister and the government well in their endeavours. Developing an S&T strategy that is both effective and properly targeted is not an easy task, as this government knows all too well. Much earlier during the current Liberal reign, an attempt to fashion a workable S&T strategy produced Science and Technology for the New Century.

Here we are again. The old strategy barely made into the century it was intended to shape, opening the way for a fresh start. The insularity of the 1995 strategy is now gone and government has wisely concluded that innovation involving all sectors is key to producing a workable document that will help achieve its ambitious targets.

The process — now as before — remains highly politicized, perhaps even more so given the unofficial leadership campaign now being waged. The high expectations of the S&T community were shattered by the last failed attempt to develop a strategy, and they won’t be so easily swayed this time around. If the politicians accept that good policy can also help win votes, perhaps there’s hope that the innovation agenda will result in a strategy we can all rally behind.