OSIC ramping up to provide mid-term advice on innovation to Government of Ontario

After nearly a year of operation, the Ontario Science and Innovation Council (OSIC) has established an ambitious slate of projects that the provincial government hopes will ultimately provide valuable mid-term advice on how it’s dealing with the emerging knowledge-based economy. Announced in 1999, OSIC has already come forward with recommendations for the current fiscal year including increased support for the government’s existing R&D programs and commercialization vehicles in both the university, public and private sectors.

Presented during the government’s pre-budget consultations, the recommendations can be seen as early manifestations of work OSIC has already initiated. To date the Council struck three sub-committees on commercialization and competitiveness, education and skills and evaluation of investments in R&D. Most advanced is a subcommittee dealing with commercialization and competitiveness, as well as its participation in a benchmarking pilot that will generate an innovation index for Ontario.

OSIC chair and Queen’s Univ VP academic, Dr Suzanne Fortier, says the common thread that ties the work of the Council together is a focus on people and how to best nurture human resources to maximize their contribution to a healthy, dynamic economy and society.

“We talk about science and technology and innovation when in fact what we should be talking about are innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and scientists,” says Fortier, attributing the shift in thinking to OSIC chair Dr Douglas Barber. “The commodity in the human mind is knowledge so you have to look at a whole set of issues or conditions to make it happen, the well being of those people, how comfortable they are, where they live, their quality of life.”

Fortier says the province has come along way towards developing an innovation agenda, beginning with the creation of the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology (MEST) and a slate of programs targeting specific aspects of research and innovation. But she contends much more must be done if the government wants to remain in the front ranks of innovative economies.

“When it comes to innovation it goes without saying that if you don’t keep on building and making sure you are at the frontier, you fall behind,” she says. “We have a number of very good building blocks in Ontario but when we look at it altogether, do we have the whole set we need or are there gaps? Do things work well together or are there place where we have to smooth the interaction, and make changes at the interface of programs?”

The Council’s work on commercialization and competitiveness is starting with the premise of consensus on where the gaps in the system are. What is less clear, says Fortier, is which approach should be taken to address such issues as early- and second-stage seed funding, the need for good management, access to advice, partnerships and access to new technologies.

“The view we take at Queen’s is don’t look for a one-size-fits-all approach. Having a big centre that assists commercialization might help a place like Toronto but it might not be good for everybody,” says Fortier. “We have an office here that works very well, so why dismantle something that’s working? Our other view is that this is a business area and we should do business as business does. Don’t create monopolies and don't create entitlement.”

The OSIC’s work on the innovation index is also well advanced, which will provide a performance evaluation for innovation. Council member and Toronto Star business editor David Crane is leading the initiative for OSIC, which is working in conjunction with other components of the provincial government, as well as agencies like Statistics Canada.

Fortier says the pace of the Council’s work will accelerate now that it has a full-time secretariat in place at MEST. In a few weeks, an OSIC web site should be operational, giving the Council a greater degree of visibility.

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