S&T Integration Board working to enhance impact, effectiveness of government R&D

First in a series on federal S&T

It's command central for federal S&T, meeting up to 20 times a year to help align federal scientific activities and capacity with evolving government priorities. To further its mission, the ADM S&T Integration Board (IB) has recently issued a brief "think piece" that provides concise, big-picture thinking on the key role science-based departments and agencies (SBDAs) play.

The importance of IB's role has grown in recent years as austerity measures translate into budget cuts while the research landscape shifts towards greater collaboration and inter-disciplinary S&T.

The co-chairs of the IB sat down with RE$EARCH MONEY to discuss the evolving role of federal S&T and the research environment in which it operates. Drs Geoff Munro, ADM for Innovation and Energy Technology at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the department's chief scientist, and Marc Fortin, CEO of Defence R&D Canada and ADM S&T at the Department of National Defence (DND) oversee discussions at the 13-member organization.

Issues range from human resources and recent cuts to departmental S&T spending to lowering barriers to collaboration both internally and with academic and private sector partners. The aim is to assist SBDAs in steering activities in ways that wring out efficiencies, addressing the public good while providing the greatest return on investment.

The position paper comes at a time when federal scientists are conducting a smaller share of Canadian S&T than at any time in recent history. In 1970, approximately 30% of R&D was conducted by federal labs. That share has dropped to less than 10% as research that doesn't conform to the core responsibilities of the SBDAs is wound down or taken up by researchers in other areas of the innovation system.

"The role of federal labs evolves over time … and the system needs to adjust," says Fortin. "There is still a great need at the moment for federal departments to supply data and information and knowledge that is required for policy development, standards, regulations and so on. If you look at it overall, this has become a greater emphasis than it used to be."

The discussion paper is designed to reflect on how the performance of S&T has evolved over time. It will also clearly distinguish what roles federal labs are expected to perform. But the extent and speed with which many shifts are occurring have contributed to fragmentation in the Canadian innovation system — a situation that is largely avoided in counties where a more centralized approach is employed.

"The innovation system in this country has evolved in a way that we end up quite fragmented. The goals and objectives in each piece of the innovation system aren't as clearly delineated in terms of matching all the capacities to achieve the objectives as it is in other countries (which take) a much more top-down approach," says Munro. "Mother nature abhors a vacuum and we do have a nation-wide responsibility, even though we don't have jurisdiction and authority over all the innovation components. You'll see in the discussion paper that one of the roles we play is the knitting together of the pieces."

need for collaboration accelerating

With the globalization of S&T and the stagnation of federal S&T funding in recent years, the importance of collaboration has increased exponentially. Rather than assume a wide range of roles in the innovation system, federal labs are determining what functions they are best suited — and mandated — to perform and how it can be joined with the efforts of others both inside and outside of government to achieve the outcomes the government is seeking.

"There's the internal collaboration among departments and agencies and then there's the external which is how the federal government science community collaborates with the rest of the innovation system," says Munro. "Often we're struggling with what the mechanisms are and within the federal family we find that we've all got different ways to use the tools available … The goal is to overall improve partnershipping and collaboration — try to knock down the barriers to efficient and effective collaboration. That is the raison d'être of what we do."

Often a department or agency will undertake a project that requires resources or expertise resident in other SBDAs. For instance, the DRDC Canadian Space and Security Program is largely dependent upon organizations outside of the federal system. But government recognized that there were gaps in Canada's public security and safety systems that needed to be addressed and money was allocated by Treasury Board to be directed to where the capacity resided.

Measurement of federal S&T is an ongoing challenge for SBDAs, which are working in collaboration with auditors and Treasury Board to determine which measures are most meaningful. Fortin says there's a shift to include impacts as well as outputs such as patents, papers and citations which can range from economic and public good benefits as well as the provision of advice and evidence of technologies where there are gaps in the system and an absence of players from other sectors.

"The Integration Board is wrestling with measurement, which is not an easy issue in Canada or elsewhere. We're all trying to find new ways of measuring," says Fortin. "We need to learn what has worked across different countries. We've had those discussions at Integration Board and Treasury Board to do it better. There's no simple answer."

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