The Council of Science and Technology (CST) is urging the Quebec government to move quickly to accelerate the development of bioinformatics in the province and has proposed a strategy which it recommends should be handed to Génome Quebec for implementation. The recommendation is contained in an advisory report issued earlier this year by the Council, which targets the scarcity of qualified personnel as a major challenge to the bioinformatics industry in Quebec and worldwide.

Génome Quebec is one of the five regional centres proposed for Genome Canada and is considered by the CST to be the ideal vehicle. "No other body has a mandate as well adapted to meet the demands laid out here," states the report.

The report contains seven recommendations, with the "number one" priority an intensive training and skills upgrading program for bioinformatics by this fall. The CST also calls for the establishment of bioinformatics graduate and studies programs, a network of research projects in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, and a close monitoring of those fields from a scientific, industry and social perspective.

In keeping with the province's interventionist policy of stimulating selected high-tech sectors, the CST recommends tax incentives to start in 2002 for provincial bioindustry firms and linked to the hiring of bioinformatics personnel. The full report can be found at: www.cst.gouv.qc.ca.

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