The Short Report - June 10, 2020: A warning about 5G, a low-carbon opportunity for Canada, and more

The U.S. State Department warned it will reassess its intelligence-sharing arrangement with Canada if Huawei is allowed to participate in building Canada's 5G network. "We in the U.S. government have made it very clear to all of our friends and allies around the world that if Huawei is allowed into a country's national security systems, we will have to protect our intelligence-sharing relationship," said spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. Ottawa has still not made its decision after more than a year and a half of assessing the question. - CBC

Brock University adopted an open access policy that calls for Brock researchers and scholars to place a digital copy of their academic journal articles into an accessible digital repository, in order to promote the free dissemination of research. - BrockU

The CIFAR-OSMO AI4Good Lab commenced its 2020 summer training program for

Canadian women on Monday. The Lab provides a 7-week intensive program to women-identified undergraduates across Canada, this year in a virtual format due to physical distancing. Sponsors for this year's program include DeepMind, Google, IVADO, Accenture, and Borealis AI. - AI4Good

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is awarding $24.75 million over six years for 15 research teams across the country through its Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program, to support the development of research and professional skills for students and post-doctoral fellows. - NSERC

COVID-19 NEWS

A study by Statistics Canada found that families with lower levels of education and earnings are the least likely to hold jobs that can be done from home, suggesting that the risk of experiencing a work interruption during the pandemic falls disproportionately on financially vulnerable families. - StatCan

The pandemic recovery presents an opportunity to reposition Canada's economy for the low-carbon transition, said Michael Sabia, the new chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, at a roundtable hosted by Corporate Knights. Rather than focusing on traditional infrastructure, Sabia said the bank should concentrate on things like renewable power, interprovincial transmission, low-carbon transportation and digitalization efforts. - Corporate Knights

The Canada Foundation for Innovation launched a new COVID-19 research infrastructure competition. The CFI is investing up to $25 million in projects that support the urgent need for equipment for ongoing research related to COVID-19. Eligible institutions can submit proposals requesting between $200,000 and $1.5 million. As an exception to its usual competitions, the CFI will cover up to 100 percent of the eligible costs of a project. Institutions must submit their proposals by July 6, 2020. - CFI

Alberta's advanced education minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced that the province will delay implementation of its performance-based funding model for post-secondary institutions until next year, due to uncertain enrolment for the coming academic year as a result of the pandemic. - CBC

The Digital Technology Supercluster unveiled eight new projects that will receive funding from its $60-million COVID-19 program, bringing the total number of supported projects to 22. Selected project teams can receive between 50 and 100 percent reimbursement of their total project costs. The new batch of projects includes a suite of therapy tools for healthcare workers by Starling Minds and an AI-powered passive screening system by Patriot One. - BetaKit

THE GRAPEVINE

Dr. Gaetano Morelli was named Chief Medical Officer at Altasciences in Laval. Dr. Morelli is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University and the Director of Gastroenterology/Endoscopy at St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal. Prior to joining Altasciences as a consultant in 2017, Dr. Morelli was the Global Medical Director at MDS Pharma for 10 years. Altasciences is a contract research organization offering preclinical and clinical pharmacology studies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. - Altasciences