Canada’s innovation players are changing their game to better compete in the international research arena

In order to address complex global challenges and realize opportunities for social and economic benefit, Canada’s rich research and talent stream must be more effectively deployed in the international arena through strategic collaboration with partners abroad.

This issue was debated at last month’s Canadian Science Policy Conference, in a panel session titled "Global Relationships in an Innovation Economy: Capitalizing on Canada’s Strengths in Collaboration and Partnership."

Canada has long participated in bilateral and multilateral R&D activities involving a range of academic, institutional, government and corporate players. But global technological change spurred by research and innovation is posing significant challenges to Canada’s vibrant financing ecosystem. The imperative to scale is compelling Canadian players to improve their game internationally.

Dr. Steven Liss, Ryerson University’s vice-president of research and innovation and the panel's moderator, noted that while Canada is struggling to scale, great strides have been made coordinating and positioning our research strengths, opening the way for greater impact.

[rs_quote credit="Roger Scott-Douglas" source="Secretary General, National Research Council"]We focus on our competitive advantages. It’s not the time to learn and grow. You have to go in with your best game.[/rs_quote]

“We must work differently to establish new types of relationships, which include co-competition, reducing silos to work horizontally, intensifying international partnerships on the basis of geopolitical challenges, and recognizing the value of intersections where innovation occurs,” said Liss. “Has Canada officially pivoted in our approach in the global and dynamic innovation economy, including our approach to trade and relationships that support S&T and bilateral relationships? How can we harness this constellation of activity in a more coordinated and strategic way?”

Bringing our best game

The National Research Council is prominent among government institutions in forging international R&D collaboration, often in conjunction with assisting firms wishing to go global. As Canada’s largest federal science organization with world-renowned laboratories and international R&D activities with 34 countries, it recently deployed an international engagement strategy with a particular focus on Germany, Japan and the U.K.  According to NRC secretary general Roger Scott-Douglas, the NRC carefully takes into consideration the rules by which other countries play, including intellectual property, the desire to collaborate and legal frameworks.

“The best broad relationships start with individual relationships. Bottom-up is best,” said Scott-Douglas. “We focus on our competitive advantages. It’s not the time to learn and grow. You have to go in with your best game.”

Scott-Douglas noted that for international relationships to succeed, countries have to be adept at transferring knowledge from academia to industry, adding that the U.S. and Japan “are exponentially better at it” than Canada.

Coordinating our strategies

Mitacs has a key niche role to play in enhancing international collaboration, linking with other players in the Canadian ecosystem to nurture young talent. What’s needed to maximize Mitac’s efforts is a landscape analysis of the international strategies developed by Canadian universities to help build large-scale relationships and coordinate science diplomacy. Lissa Matyas, Mitacs’ VP International Partnerships, said creating an informal group would be beneficial in liaising with the federal departments, the Chief Science Advisor and the granting councils to determine which countries, regions and sectors should be prioritized and collaborations established.

“Work with Global Affairs Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development to target countries that will be strategic for us in terms of our research priorities and other strategic initiatives we would like to grow into world hubs of expertise,” said Mattyas. “The thing I find remarkable is we’re getting much deeper relationships with these countries. Silicon Valley, Germany, Israel are really the hubs to visit. People are coming to Canada and looking at what we’re doing in terms of innovation … It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Getting our house in order

The Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) plays a central role in international S&T funding and coordination and as a key policy maker for players seeking new global relationships and markets. Daniel Dufour, ISED’s director general of science policy, said Canada has made significant improvements to aligning priorities, but that more needs to be done “to get our house in order internally.”

“What we’ve done fairly well is that most of the different pieces of the system have been articulated for their international approach, which wasn’t the case that many years ago in terms of international engagement,” said Dufour. “The broader discussion now is how we go to the next phase in terms of having better integration across the system. We need to be strategic. Scale is important. We’re a very small economy so we need a Team Canada approach.”

Targeting sub-national jurisdictions

Beyond nation-to-nation collaboration, innovation actors such as the Quebec government have found it advantageous to engage in sub-national diplomacy and collaboration at the state or even municipal levels. Patricia Gruver-Barr, research and innovation attaché for the Quebec government's office in Boston, said her province is targeting sub-national jurisdictions to expand international collaboration in areas such as genomics and ocean and life sciences. Her Boston-based consulate is using this bottom-up approach to leverage provincial strengths in artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, there’s extensive interaction between Quebec and the federal government, helping to develop national strategic direction.

“We’ve been working recently on building an initiative between Montreal, Boston and Pittsburgh called the AI Triangle. It’s a new exercise … to build relationships for our startups [to] find mentors or peers in the US, who can guide you through that landscape,” said Gruver-Barr. “The second part of the AI triangle is an ethical framework for the three cities … using the Montreal Declaration for AI as an example … The third part is … retaining and training new AI and data scientists, working at the university level, developing fellowships so students can travel between three cities.”

Promoting Canadian students

For Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the surge in international activity, combined with new fiscal resources from recent federal budgets, is enhancing its efforts to help companies scale to a size where they can prosper in the global arena. Services offered through GAC’s Community Technology Accelerators program include access to capital and promotion of intellectual property, utilizing its trade commission service, and other mechanisms to assist small firms in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

“We’re going to identify and work with particular companies that offer significant opportunities to grow internationally rapidly to accelerate their internationalization,” said Emmanuel Kamarianakis, GAC’s director general of innovation, investment and education. “We are also going to be ambitiously promoting Canadian students to the world. Something Canada hasn’t’ been as good at in the past is getting our students to be international. We will be launching a program to get 11,000 students in the first year starting in September, 2020.

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