New proposal to stimulate commercialization gathering supporters from across Canada

Spearheaded by Alberta Research Council

The federal government is being asked to commit at least $500 million annually for the next five years to support a new, multi-faceted commercialization initiative as the critical next-step in its innovation agenda. Spearheaded by the Alberta Research Council (ARC), the proposed Canadian Innovation network — dubbed Innovation Canada or I-Can — is picking up support from coast to coast. Its backers say that a network linking specialized expertise and facilities will help to provide Canadian companies with the innovative capacity they require to generate wealth, create jobs and compete globally.

The proposal has been gaining momentum over the last year, although progress has been hindered by the policy paralysis that has afflicted Ottawa prior to the installation of the new Paul Martin government. ARC president/CEO Dr John McDougall says the majority of provinces and about two dozen organizations support the proposal and a series of consultations are planned to gather further input.

“We would be thrilled if the government started to position for this,” says McDougall. “We’ve spoken to Martin’s policy team and key advisors as well as MPs who are viewed as well-positioned and strong supporters. This has to happen in the early part of the Martin agenda and we can flesh it out rather quickly.”

So far, even modest seed funding has remained elusive, but McDougall is confident that the environment for new proposals will change dramatically once Martin takes the helm.

I-Can is being conceived as an arm’s-length, not-for-profit organization offering four distinct programs, each aimed at bridging a significant gap in Canada’s innovation system. The high pricetag associated with each program reflects the fact that it costs three to four times as much to convert knowledge to technology than it does for early stage research.

Canada’s weakness in the downstream portion of the innovation cycle is already beginning to cause damage. A major negative trade balance on high value-added goods is growing, in part due to the pressure on commodities which have traditionally racked up major trade surpluses. It’s therefore essential for a more robust innovation model to include intermediary organizations.

I-CAN PROGRAMS

An innovation infrastructure program would be funded to the tune of $1 billion over five years to construct specialized facilities and purchase equipment required for firms needing prototype development, testing, pilot plants and the like. These facilities would be available on a contract basis. Some of the necessary infrastructure is already in place in organizations like ARC, other provincial research organizations (PROs) and applied research organizations such as TR Labs. But I-Can’s backers say much more is required as part of a coordinated, national network to avoid duplication.

“Some infrastructure is in place but even ARC, which is the largest applied research organization in Canada, is sub-critical. We’re way below what is needed,” says McDougall, I-Can’s architect and primary booster. “Current (research) infrastructure programs apply to universities and hospitals. There’s nothing downstream. We need a program targeted to the other part of the innovation spectrum.”

A second major program — also projected to require $1 billion over five years — would leverage industry funding to support applied research and technology commercialization. The program would provide grants to boost R&D in strategic areas and could be delivered through the highly successful research partnerships program (RPP) of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). The RPP program would have to be expanded and modified, however, allowing non-university entities as the lead applicant. It would also logically involve Canada’s colleges, which are focused on applied R&D and already have strong linkages with industry.

The grant program could dovetail neatly with NSERC’s new program to fund collaborations between industry and community colleges, now in the pilot stage. NSERC already has a national reach it plans to bolster by opening several regional offices as part of its new vision (R$, October 3/03).

A third program proposal — worth $50 million over five years and also delivered in partnership with NSERC — is a Distinguished Applied Scientist Program (DASP). The program is modelled on entities like iCORE (Informatics Circle of Excellence), a subsidiary of the Alberta Science and Research Authority dedicated to attracting world-class ICT talent to the province. DASP would seek out global leaders in areas such as commercialization and product development, building a critical mass of talent aimed at converting knowledge into products and services.

I-Can’s final component — an Industrial Productivity and Competitiveness Enhancement Program (IPCEP) — would see the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) expanded to support Canada’s vast pool of small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and industry in general. Working in conjunction with organizations like the PROs and Technology Partnerships Canada, the IPCEP could utilize IRAP’s expertise within its current home at the National Research Council or it could be spun out as a separate entity.

“IRAP would become a key federal contribution to the I-Can network. It is a lynchpin piece to the concept,” says McDougall. “It would be a market-driven mechanism that gets new money to the table.”

The genesis for I-Can was born about one year ago when McDougall convened what is left of Canada’s PROs and like-minded organizations and presented a rough outline of I-Can. Based on initial interest in the concept, it was further developed and introduced to several provincial governments and the federal government in Ottawa.

McDougall acknowledges that many of I-Can’s characteristics are not new. But he asserts that its scope, the networking function and the timing of the initiative all work in favour of its ultimate success. Discussions with members of the Martin camp have resulted in the inclusion of key wording in recent Martin speeches, most importantly his September 18th address to the Montreal Board of Trade (R$, October 3/03).

“This will be a whole network of applied R&D entities but it will be more focussed than previous proposals and more globally competitive,” he says. “With Martin having moved away from influencing public policy and positioning himself for re-entry, his innovation agenda got down played. Now Martin will revive the agenda and that will require beefing up parts of the research system.”

As part of his research, McDougall looked at about 12 similar organizations in the US, Europe and Asia. The I-Can proposal incorporates elements of other programs but reflects Canada’s unique industrial structure. There was some consideration given to combining I-Can with Health Innovation Canada — a major networking, capacity-building proposal currently being championed by Dr Henry Friesen. But McDougall says the decision to go it alone with I-Can is probably the best approach.

“We need the right ingredients and the right proportions,” he says. “We feel we have at least part of the right recipe.”

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