NanoQuebec moves ahead with key international agreements but could face funding pressures early next year

NanoQuebec has inked a tripartite agreement with two of the world’s largest nanotechnology research facilities and has received additional funding from the Quebec government as it forges ahead with a strategy to incorporate nanotechnologies into the province’s industrial base. The agreements with New York State and France were signed during a May 26 symposium in Montreal that also saw an agreement signed with Montreal International.

Through NanoQuebec, Quebec is taking a strong leadership position in Canada as it positions the province for collaboration between several key industrial sectors and the nanotech research community. It is the only province with an organization dedicated to the development and coordination of a nanotechnology sector and appears to be at least a year ahead of the federal government.

AHEAD OF THE FEDS

In fact, its early success in galvanizing dialogue over the economic potential of nanotechnology has placed the organization in something of a quandary, as it hopes to secure federal funding to move its strategy forward. But it’s uncertain whether that funding will be forthcoming until Ottawa completes its work on a national strategy.

“We need the funding until someone decides on some other funding mechanism or a national approach,” says NanoQuebec DG Dr Clive Willis. “We need lots of money out there for projects –— the feasibility projects, the pre-competitive product development, the collaboration between the big industries and SMEs — to support the development of joint projects.”

An immediate source of funding pressure is the international economic development agreement NanoQuebec has entered into with at the Univ of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (Albany NanoTech) in New York State and the French Laboratory of Electronics and Information Technologies (LETI), a division of the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA). The latter is one of the drivers of MINATEC, the European Innovation Pole for Micro and Nanotechnologies and one of the key research areas of the sixth European Framework Program now underway (see page 6). The two organizations are among the largest nanotechnology research centres in the world and offer major opportunities for future collaboration and leverage of domestic capabilities.

“They want to work with us because we have complementary capabilities, we’re a good linguistic bridge and we have a different approach to applying nanotechnology to traditional sectors. They want to be part of this and they see the tripartite arrangement as a major development.” says Willis. “Projects under the agreement have to be jointly funded so you’ve got to have privileged money … We want to have a privileged relationship with specific access through our partners to their firms.”

In order to provide time for the rest of Canada to catch up, NanoQuebec has received extension funding from Valorisation-Recherche Quebec (VRQ), its primary funder for the past four years. VRQ is providing $1.5 million to NanoQuebec to take it from July 1/05 to March 31/06, bringing its total investment in NanoQuebec to $13 million. The new money will be used for infrastructure support that will be subject to a new rigorous review process.

This will be the last time VRQ will be able to fund NanoQuebec as the organization is being allowed to sunset at the end of the current FY. VRQ president Gilbert Drouin says that there could be a funding gap if new sources of funding are not secured.

“What VRQ has tried to do is get people to work together. We look more at the way of doing research rather than supporting it. The funding agencies are there to support research,” says Drouin. “The question is, who will pay for dissemination? Nobody wants to do it. We’ve extended our support until the end of March 2006 and the research capacity will be there, but the dissemination won’t.”

At home, NanoQuebec is moving ahead and signing a series of sectoral agreements with industry. Agreements have already been signed with the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (PAPRICAN) representing the forestry sector and Hydro-Québec Technology and Innovation. Next up are agreements with the mining, agri-food and telecommunications sectors.

As the first organization to enter into a sectoral agreement, PAPRICAN is seen as a model for others to follow. It sees far-reaching potential for a wide range of products incorporating nanotechnologies and has participated in a vision and technology roadmapping exercise for the industry in the US (www.nanotechforest.org).

The US roadmap identified six areas in which nanotechnology R&D can play a key role — polymer composites and nano-reinforced materials, self-assembly and biometrics, cell wall nanotechnology, nanotechnology in sensors, processing and process control, analytical methods for nanostructure characterization, and collaboration in advancing programs and conducting research.

“The wood and wood products industries are a natural for nanotechnology and I’m excited to be working with NanoQuebec,” says PAPRICAN president Dr Joe Wright. “The pulp and paper industry has been using nano materials for decades and now we can look at new functionality and new materials ... It’s a question of leadership and the desire to win and NanoQuebec is attempting to engage industry on this issue. It’s a good first step.”

While Quebec roars ahead towards a series of sector-based action plans, Ottawa is finally moving on the development of a national strategy. With the Office of the National Science Advisor providing a coordinating role, the government has requested an assessment of nanotechnology from the Advisory Council on Science and Technology (ACST). ACST begins work on the project this month, with a NanoForum slated for June 15th.

The objectives of the project are to assess Canada’s current areas of expertise, gain understanding of Canada’s niche capacity and competitive timelines, and flesh out the social, economic and regulatory environment in which a national strategy would operate. Speaking at the NanoQuebec symposium, ONSA executive director Kevin Fitzgibbons says the ACST will provide advice on future federal investments in nanotechnology, adding that NanoQuebec provides a useful model as a national strategy emerges.

The ACST is scheduled to deliver a final report to Industry minister David Emerson in December. The ACST and ONSA will then take recommendations to Cabinet early in 2006 to develop strategy options. The schedule is timed to fit within the next Budget cycle.

R$