Feasibility of a science policy centre on the agenda for upcoming conference

Fragmented policy landscape cited

This year's Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) could be Canada's best chance in years to create a central resource for S&T policy coordination, skills development and research into science, technology and innovation. Organizers have included a separate panel to debate the merits and logistics of establishing a Canadian Science Policy Centre which they hope will address the country's highly fragmented policy landscape.

Response and support for the conference will also help to determine whether new financing can be obtained to ensure that it will be held on an annual basis. The first two conferences (2009 in Toronto, 2010 in Montreal) were mounted through the financial support of sponsors and the efforts of many volunteers but the lead organizer says the event cannot continue on the same basis.

"I don't see this as a sustainable model. Volunteers are an excellent source of contribution to organizing the conference but if the community needs an annual forum on this scale, organizations must help to set up the secretarial support," says Dr Mehrdad Hariri, chair of the CSPC organizing. "The ideal scenario is that we have the participation from the three sectors - academia, government and the private sector."

address fragmented policy landscape

Hariri, whose interest in the intersection of science and policy led to the creation of a Science Canada weblog several years ago, says the success of the CSPC and Canada's fragmented science policy landscape demand that a coordinated effort is required if Canada wishes to build a knowledge-based society and economy.

"Fragmentation and isolation are chronic problems of our science enterprise. There's no consistent connection between the private sector, government and academia. The whole idea of CSPC is trying to facilitate a dialogue among these sectors but the policy community is very multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral," he says. "Academia spends perhaps as much as $10 billion a year on R&D ... and they have to be well connected and interact with the other sectors."

CSPC also plans to boost the participation of technology and industry. Industry participation at the first two conferences was between 7% and 10% and Hariri says it must be higher, although he notes that industry was well represented on the panels.

"We hope to increase it dramatically. We have started partnerships with industry associations like BIOTECanada and the Chemical Institute of Canada and we're trying to tap into information technology and engineering," says Hariri.

"Fragmentation and isolation are among the chronic problems of our science enterprise. There is no consistent connection between private sector, government and academia. The whole idea of CSPC is trying to facilitate a dialogue among these sectors." -Dr Mehrdad Hariri, CSPC chair

The concept of a permanent centre to operate the conference, act a resource for the policy community and generally serve as a focal point for discussion, interaction and training is nearly as old as the conference itself. Last year, organizers had planned to solicit support from the policy community but lack of resources delayed any fundraising.

"We didn't want to waste our resources to go to the community without having a finalized comprehensive business plan and strategy," says Hariri.

Efforts were directed instead at increasing engagement with the community and soliciting proposals for themes to be presented at this year's conference, to be held in Ottawa November 16-18.

"We opened the call for proposals for panels and received 33 of them. We selected 10, so more than half of the 17 panels were suggested by the community," he says. "We would like to expand the call for panels even earlier this year if there is going to be another conference so that up to 90% of the panels are suggested."

As an example, this year's conference contains a special stream on chemistry to commemorate the International Year of Chemistry. The sessions are sponsored by the Chemical Institute of Canada, representing the Canadian Society for Chemistry, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering and Canadian Society for Chemical Technology.

views on science policy centre solicited

With the conference just two months away, CSPC is preparing to launch a major push to establish a new policy centre. It engaged the consulting firm, Halifax Global, to conduct interviews with key policy experts and survey the larger community for its ideas

"What are their expectations? Do they think it's needed? How could a science centre help them achieve their objectives. The survey will fit into our strategic plan," says Hariri, adding that he intends to have the plan completed in time for the conference.

In the meantime, Hariri has his own opinions on what a centre could conceivably look like. At a minimum, he says, it should serve as a focal point and hub for the science policy community and serve as a channel of communication among various sectors. In addition to operating the annual conference, potential functions could also include seminars and commissioning collaborative research projects that engage the academic, private sector, government and not-for-profit sectors.

"What we have to accomplish is to develop these dialogues and discussions in some kind of systematic ways to that government can really take something out of this, industry can listen and there are some mechanisms we can forge together to talk about the emerging issues of science policy in this country," says Hariri. "The scientific community does not have much input into the policy of science. This has been a chronic problem in Canada and at CSPC we're hopeful we can accomplish this connection. There is a lack of a comprehensive connection between government and scientists when it comes to policy for science."

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