Canada, France and UK host high-level roundtables to identify collaborative opportunities in key research areas

Canada is participating in a series of expert stakeholder roundtables with France and the UK to identify new opportunities for collaboration to bolster each country’s economy while meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Organized by Mitacs in collaboration with Canada’s Chief Science Advisory and the UK and French embassies, the eight expert roundtables aim to turn research gaps, challenges and opportunities into new, coordinated, long-term, multi-university bilateral research initiatives that build on existing research and student mobility programs, with the possibility of adding new initiatives.

The goal of the meetings is to leverage complementary strengths in four strategic areas: pandemic preparedness, quantum technology, artificial intelligence and the green economy.

“Canada has not always been as coordinated as we could be in terms of supporting the whole research ecosystem, from basic research all the way to commercialization and knowledge transfer,” Lissa Matyas, VP of international partnerships at Mitacs, told Research Money.

“We're trying to provide an opportunity to assist organizations to talk to each other.”

The discussions focused on specific sub-themes within each topic (see table below).

The first virtual meeting was held on March 10 and the final one is scheduled for April 9.

Mitacs will then prepare a summary of recommendations for next steps, which will include opportunities for research collaborations and graduate student/post-doc mobility. Those recommendations will feed into two virtual meetings in June between university vice-presidents of research, senior government representatives and major research granting agencies from all three countries.

The meetings will be chaired by Canada’s chief science advisor, Mona Nemer, and her UK and France counterparts. The findings will also be shared with Global Affairs Canada and Innovation Science and Economic Development.

“The granting councils can say, we already have funding for joint calls, so we'll have a joint research call in photonics, for example [for quantum technology],” Matyas said. “And then Mitacs will support the student mobility and we don't need additional funding for that. There are already pre-existing mechanisms.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has repeatedly voiced plans to “build back better” coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, with emphasis on “growing a green economy”.

Those goals are reflected in the choice of sub-themes, which include research areas such as the built environment, clean public transport and AI applied to future energy challenges.

Pandemic preparedness, quantum, AI and the green economy are priority areas

The four themes chosen are all strong research areas for Canada, although success has not always translated into new companies, products or services.

In the area of AI, for example, Canada is considered a global research leader. CIFAR leads the $125-million pan-Canadian AI strategy that supports AI research centres in Alberta (AMII), Montreal (MILA) and Toronto (Vector Institute). Quebec is home to the SCALE.AI supercluster dedicated to using AI to improve supply chains.

According to a 2020 report from Element AI on Canadian AI talent, Canada has 367 total AI researchers, making it second in the world to the United States, which has 1,600 researchers.

At the roundtables, representatives from each country are looking for gaps in each other’s systems and identifying areas for collaboration, according to Matyas.

“We talked about France being very strong on the mathematical side of artificial intelligence and then Canada being stronger on the engineering elements,” Matyas said. “That is a beautiful example of where we're very complementary.”

Quantum is another Canadian research strength, with several recent announcements bolstering the country’s scientific and industrial capabilities. On March 11, the federal government allocated $40 million from the Strategic Innovation Fund to D-Wave, a quantum computing company based in a Burnaby, B.C.

There is also speculation that Canada’s upcoming federal budget may include funding for a new quantum institute in response to the Standing Committee on Finance February report calling on the government to “financially support the establishment of a quantum computing research institute in the Toronto area, similar to the Vector Institute.”

"We have a strong national effort in AI, as do many countries," said John Hepburn, CEO of Mitacs. "In quantum technology, Canada is a world leader, and there have been discussions about establishing a national strategy, similar to what already exists in several countries."

The roundtable co-chairs included research counterparts for each country so they could brainstorm potential areas to work together.

“We really tried to have an expert who can represent their communities, so that it was easy for them to identify their strengths in their country and matchmake those ideas,” said Mathilde Brillu, coordinator of international partnerships at Mitacs.

Hepburn says that, once it’s safer to move between countries, they can better act on the recommendations that come out of the roundtables. “We just support the mobility part, and we need people to support the actual research part," he said.

Mitacs hopes that the roundtables can support the work of researchers from all participating countries.

Roundtables build on current partnerships

The roundtables build on existing partnerships between Canada, France and the UK.

Since 2000, the France Canada Research Fund, which includes 20 Canadian universities, has supported collaborative research between the two countries. The Mitacs-Campus France agreement launched in 2014 to increase post-graduate mobility.

In 2019, Mitacs and UKRI signed a letter of understanding outlining a framework for joint research, including a single peer review process to join projects and a promise to build links between agencies and departments.

In November 2020, The Canada Foundation for Innovation signed its first-ever formal agreement with the UK’s Science and Technologies Facilities Council to make research infrastructure in both countries more accessible.

In an interview with Research Money at the time, NSERC VP of research partnerships Marc Fortin said that collaboration is essential as complex sciences like quantum — an area the council itself put a joint call out with UKRI for projects — require further study.

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