BC releases research and innovation strategy following flurry of new spending

The British Columbia government has released its latest research and innovation strategy, although its release is somewhat anticlimactic given the recent flurry of major new program initiatives. The slim 13-page document (including front and back page covers) contains no new funding initiatives but it does provide a concise rationale for the new programs announced in recent weeks and a clear framework for future investments.

Entitled BC Research and Innovation Strategy: Local Excellence, Global Impact, the framework document will be followed by a 10-year business plan currently in development and planned for release sometime in 2008. According to a government official, the 10-year plan will be the operational component of the strategy and could involve the participation of outside bodies in its formulation and to develop performance measures.

The strategy's release has been expected for the past 18 months. Following a premature announcement by a government minister to a provincial high-tech industry group in late 2005, the strategy was sent to Cabinet twice before final approval last January.

"Cabinet wanted to see a framework for investments and planning decisions, says a government official with the Ministry of Advanced Education. "The strategy provides support for basic research, funding, financing and highly qualified personnel."

The strategy's release signals the end to a period of turmoil within the BC government over its approach to building a diversified high-tech sector. Within weeks of assuming power, the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell initiated a series of reviews on government support programs, axing those deemed to be business subsidies (R$, January 23 & June 21/02).

Since then, a new policy structure for supporting high-tech and its research and HQP underpinnings has begun to take shape, with the BC Innovation Council emerging as a key mechanism for new initiatives.

"The challenge has been to support commercialization without providing direct funding to industry," says the official. "To a large degree, we've decided to do it through internships. That's why we funded the Global Connect study, Integrating and Enhancing the Knowledge Transfer System in BC."

A direct consequence of that approach is the decision to invest $10 million to triple the number of graduate internships with business to more than 650. The province has engaged the MITACS Network of Centres of Excellence to manage the program, which will initially offer internships across the science and engineering spectrum before expanding into the arts and humanities.

MITACS' internship program was cited in the recent federal Budget as the inspiration for the Industrial R&D Internship program to be managed by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (R$, March 26/07). BC's decision to use MITACS to deliver its internship program marks the first time an NCE has been tapped to deliver a program for a provincial government.

The internship approach has also produced the Accelerated Commercialization Enhancement initiative, which will invest $2.75 million through the BC Innovation Council for three separate programs. The BC Industrial Innovation Scholarship will provide $40,000 over two years to Masters students and $75,000 over three years for PhD students to encourage them to pursue graduate degrees and seek careers in the province. The BC MBA Access to Commercialization Scholarship provides students with $15,000 to engage with business including the investor community.

The BC government has invested an additional $10 million in graduate scholarships at the province's four universities with the aim of attracting top-flight talent. The Pacific Century Graduate Scholarship program will offer $10,000 over four years to masters, doctoral and post-doctoral students beginning this September. The move augments a recent investment in 2,500 new graduate spaces over the same timeframe.

The remainder of the strategy's initiatives to foster greater business investment focus on the overall business environment. These include a commitment to reduce regulations, a competitive tax framework, the Venture Capital Corporation, early-stage incentives, and the provincial top-up to the federal scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax incentive program.

By far the greatest investment BC has made in recent years has been for research infrastructure, largely through the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF). Since 2001, the BCKDF has invested $310 million in research infrastructure projects, leveraging $850 million in spending from federal (Canada Foundation for Innovation) and other sources.

Since 2001, BC has invested more than $1.5 billion in research. In addition to the BCKDF, other major beneficiaries include the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research ($225 million), Genome BC ($102.5 million), the Leading Edge Endowment Fund ($56 million), the Natural Sciences and Applied Sciences Endowment ($50 million) and the Masters of Digital Media program ($40 million).

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