STIC marching orders issued as new advisory council meets for the first time

Members of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) have emerged from their first meeting November 19 with several requests for advice and with confidence that their work will achieve more success in affecting federal S&T policy than past advisory councils.

All 17 members of the Council met for two days in Ottawa to discuss a work plan and receive their first tasks from Industry minister Jim Prentice which included one on behalf of another minister.

RE$EARCH MONEY has learned that STIC received four requests for advice including one in the area of international S&T but this could not be independently confirmed. The nature and the number of the tasks assigned to the Council are not being divulged as all Council advice is confidential. Nor will STIC generate any advice on its own.

STIC chair Dr Howard Alper says such practices are common procedure in other countries with similar advisory bodies.

"Our advice on S&T issues is strictly confidential," he says. "We will receive issues from government and there will be no input from Council. We've modeled this on best practices in other countries. It's not conceptually a new idea but it is distinguished from all past (Canadian advisory) bodies by bringing no agenda of its own."

For each requests for advice, STIC has struck a small sub-committee or working group of four-to-six people. They will complete their work and report to the full Council.

"They will report to Council as a whole for debate, come to closure and provide recommendations and advice to Prentice or through Prentice to other ministers," says Alper.

Alper says that the limited impact of past advisory bodies such as the Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA) and the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology (NABST) was due to their tendency to anticipate the kinds of advice government was seeking rather than purely reacting to government requests.

"They were more proactive and you have to think of receptor capacity and the chances for take-up," he says. "Other bodies started out well but what often happened was that, over a period of time, they developed a more proactive agenda that could have caused difficulties."

Providing confidential advice for issues of interest to the government is only one of STIC's functions. The other is to issue a state-of-the-nation report on Canadian S&T on a regular basis. This element of the Council's mandate is public and designed to provide Canadians with the latest assessment of where the country stands on a global basis. STIC has yet to determine the parameters of the reports and how frequently they will be issued.

Also unresolved are procedures for membership renewal. The initial idea of appointing the members to staggered terms was not adopted and Alper says the issue will be revisited before the first three-year period. Based on the first meeting, he says he has high expectations for the inaugural Council.

"Our first meeting far exceeded my expectations. Everyone seemed very stimulated by the experience which augers well for the future of the Council," says Alper. "Our first priority was to set up a governance structure that follows best practices to assure the highest probability for advisory success. Then we populated the Council with outstanding individuals. I believe we have an excellent prospect of working on a meaningful basis with government and contributing to decision-making."

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