Optimizing Canada's knowledge base

By Dr Peter Morand

In a recent report released by the Conference Board (How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada, June, 2007) Canada does not fare particularly well in two of the six categories selected (Economy, Education and Skills, Environment, Health, Innovation and Society) when benchmarked with a number of OECD countries. What is worrisome in terms of Canada's ability to compete in world markets and to enhance its economy is the finding that, although we rank 3rd out of 17 in Education and Skills, we rank 14th in the area of Innovation, with an equally dismal ranking in the Environment domain.

Other countries whose knowledge base, like Canada's, is comparatively small in the global context perform much better in the area of Innovation. For some time now the federal government has been focusing on innovation as an integral part of Canadian economic policy. Why is it then that the Conference Board is again telling us Canada is not among the better performers in the fast moving knowledge-based global economy?

Canada needs to bolster its presence abroad

The solution lies in complementing more effectively our high quality intellectual assets with the vast knowledge pool that exists outside Canada, particularly in the area of technology applications. And it seems that our policy makers are finally beginning to get it.

International collaboration among university researchers is their lifeblood and the granting councils have traditionally provided support for travel and exchanges. There is also an increasing number of special international research initiatives such as the International Polar Year, the Human Genome Project and NSERC's Inter-American Collaboration in Materials Research.

Pluses and minuses in the global arena

But the landscape changes when there is collaboration in research projects which may be in various stages of commercialization. Where does the ownership of intellectual property reside and how are economic benefits attributed? On the one hand Canada must strive to complement its knowledge base and on the other it must ensure that it will get its fair share of benefits which accrue from knowledge pools. But this is the new reality and creative solutions need to be found.

Take the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) which were first established almost 20 years ago. The program has been successful in enabling the networking of critical masses of research capabilities in key areas ranging from telecommunications to photonics to genetics — all with a national rather than an international focus. It was not until a year ago that the Emerging Dynamic Global Economies (EDGE) Network became the first NCE with a specifically international focus. Led by a board with extensive business, economic, legal and public policy experience and global markets knowledge, EDGE aims to help Canadian companies compete successfully in China, India and Brazil — countries with massive emerging economies.

More recently the NCEs were invited to submit proposals for engaging with research organizations from around the world. After the proposals had been reviewed, $5.9 million was be invested to allow seven NCEs to establish partnerships with 43 organizations in 17 countries. Collectively these 43 organizations committed $8.8 million in support of this international knowledge exchange. It is disappointing that Canada's $5.9 million investment is but a small fraction of the overall allocation for the NCE program, but it's a start.

In Europe, internationally oriented research centres have been the trend for several years. For example, the Institute of Advanced Studies in Paris recently recruited a Canadian researcher for its international chair in bioenergy whose main objective will be to establish a network of existing centres of excellence in Europe in the areas of biofuels and bioenergy. France, Germany and the UK are the first countries to participate in this project which is sponsored by the European Commission.

Last March's federal budget announced a more commercially oriented version of Networks of Centres of Excellence in the areas of: environmental science & technologies; natural resources & energy; health & related life sciences & technologies; and, information & communications technologies.

The guidelines for Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) have now been posted on the NCE web site. This would have been an opportunity to put strong emphasis on international collaboration. Instead, the guidelines are very similar to those for NCE proposals but with more expectations for commercialization and for the attraction of private sector investment, including "foreign direct investment and venture capital". Perhaps the prospect of having to deal with the issues of ownership and attribution of benefits for "commercializable technologies" was a deterrent for having a greater emphasis on international collaboration.

A model that works

The situation is less tenuous when international collaboration takes place between corporate entities. In such cases, agreements are drawn up to spell out clearly contributions/benefits among the parties. The Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) was created in 1994 to promote bi-lateral R&D collaboration. Having existing firms and well-established research centres in the equation has no doubt contributed to its unqualified success.

The recent launching of International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (R$, April 24/07) to develop R&D collaboration with Brazil, China, and India builds on the CIIRDF model of creating knowledge pools to the greater benefit of partners. What I see as a logical extension of this $20 million program is to increase the investment three- to four-fold in the near future to include more countries and to permit ISTPCanada to provide coordination support to the International Development Research Agency (IDRC) and to CERC. This would put Canada on the right track for a sustainable economy in the face of the rapid and immense changes occurring in the global economic environment.

Peter Morand is past president of NSERC and past president & CEO of the Canadian Science & Technology Growth Fund Inc. petermorand@rogers.com