Person: Mona Nemer

The Short Report – June 3, 2020: SSHRC and NSERC announce new grant winners; ScaleAI supporting 10 university chairs; DND launches COVID-19 challenges; and more…

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council awarded $75 million to more than 1,600 researchers from over 60 universities across Canada. More than $60 million will go for partnership projects and $14 million will support 160 postdoctoral researchers. Out of the total number of recipients, 760 (56%) self-identify as women, 48 (4%) as Indigenous, 158…

The Short Report, May 6, 2020: AbCellera receives $175.6M for COVID-19 therapies; Canada contributes $850 million to global pandemic response; new “super angel” fund launches; and more

Vancouver-based AbCellera Biologics will receive up to $175.6 million from the federal Strategic Innovation Fund to fast-track antibody therapies against COVID-19. The funding will also go to build a first-of-its-kind antibody manufacturing facility over the next four years to help Canada respond to future pandemics. AbCellera has partnered with global biopharmaceutical company Eli Lilly to…

The Short Report, April 28, 2020: Alarming drop in donations for health charities; Health Canada approves COVID-19 clinical trial; and more

Health charities are seeing an “alarming” drop in donations, which they warn will compromise the health of Canadians living with chronic disease. HealthPartners, a collaboration of 16 Canadian charities, released the findings in its report, The Impact of COVID-19 on our Most Vulnerable Canadians. In response to declining donations, the report says health charities have…

The Short Report, December 11, 2019: Wexit spooks Wattpad; Montreal’s swelling video-game sector; North promises better next time

The Toronto-based e-publisher Wattpad has chosen to open its second headquarters in Halifax rather than Calgary, due to concerns about Western separatism and the elimination of Alberta tax credits supporting companies in the innovation economy. Five business tax credit programs were cut, including the Investor Tax Credit introduced by the previous NDP government, which provided a 30%…

The Short Report, November 20, 2019: Sidewalk Labs, public-private partnerships, Alberta layoffs

Sidewalk Labs released a new 483-page document that does “a good job of satisfying the information we need” to evaluate the technological innovations planned for the Quayside development in Toronto, says Kristina Verner, Waterfront Toronto’s vice president of innovation. The evaluation is due to be completed by March 2020. – SaltWire Ontario is introducing a new policy to…

The Short Report – May 29, 2019: CRCC progress report, poultry research, bio-refinery

The Canada Research Coordinating Committee has released its first progress report, highlighting accomplishments to date on five priority areas: interdisciplinary, international, high-risk/high-rewards, rapid response research; key emerging research areas; equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI); Indigenous research; and, the needs of early career researchers (ECR). Activities over the coming year include: calls for applications under the…

Agrafioti and Bengio to chair new Advisory Council on AI

Innovation minister Navdeep Bains has launched the Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence to advise government on how to build Canada’s AI strengths, create economic growth and ensure AI advancements reflect Canadian values such as human rights, transparency and openness. The new council will establish a working group on commercializing value from Canadian-owned AI and data…