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Innovation: A View
from the North
November 3, 2005
By James Klein, Larta
VOX Editor
 Larta
VOX interviews Dr. Arthur Carty (pictured left), National Science Advisor
to the Canadian Prime Minister, and former President of the National Research
Council of Canada (NRC), the Canadian government's leading knowledge and
innovation organization.
Dr. Carty is providing
the Opening Remarks and is a panelist for the Project
T2 conference morning panel November 8, 2005, Global Reach, Global
Goldmine: Tapping the Nuggets of Innovation Across the World.
Joining Dr. Carty
will be fellow panelists Allen Sussman, Partner, Morrison and Foerster;
Shirley Jamieson, Head of External Relations, Cambridge Enterprise, University
of Cambridge; Lou Witkin, Technology Program Manager, HP University Relations,
Hewlett-Packard; and Dr. Rudolf Cais, Vice President, Mitsubishi Chemical
Company.
Dr. Carty (pictured
right) was NRC President for ten years, from 1994-2004. Under his leadership,
the NRC assumed an important role in the growing partnerships between
large corporations and universities. Among other achievements, Carty helped
create the Ottawa Venture in Training Engineers and Scientists in Software
Engineering program (O-Vitesse), which enabled science graduates to qualify
as software engineers in less than two years.
Larta VOX: Tell
us what Canada is doing right. What kinds of programs have you seen that
most effectively encourage technology innovation and commercialization?
There are several
Canadian programs which have had real impact. The National Research Council's
(NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) provides technology
advice and financial support of up to $300,000 on a matching basis with
innovative companies for R&D projects and for larger pre-commercialization
projects valued up to $1.5 million. IRAP supports 3500 companies per year.
This is the principal program for direct support of small and medium-sized
enterprises and complements the Federal government's R&D tax credits
system. IRAP provides support to many innovative university and government
lab spin-off companies.
Another NRC initiative
which is having great success is the Industrial Partnership Facility (IPF)
where start-ups and spin-offs can be co-located with NRC's research institutes
and have access to serviced space, technical expertise, instruments and
facilities, and communications networks. These IPFs are much more than
"space and place" incubators because they allow companies to
develop in close proximity to the research laboratories and personnel.
IRAP offices are usually on site also. In April of 2005, 115 companies
were incubating in NRC IPFs.
Other programs
that have had great success include the Industry-University Collaborative
Programs of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC),
which provide grants to university researchers to match industrial contributions
to university research and encourage public-private partnerships. Industry-University
Research Chairs, of which there are over 200 in Canada, provide five-year
grants, matched by the company, to provide the salary and research support
for a professor working on a joint collaborative project with industry.
Such chairs have been very effective in developing and transferring technology
and skilled researchers from university lab to industry.
Another successful
program is PRECARN, a so-called 4th pillar organization (government funded)
that fosters technology transfer via active engagement of technology discoverers/developers
(R&D labs) with companies that are interested in implementation and
commercialization. PRECARN projects have a high rate of success.
Larta VOX: Now
tell us something that hasn't necessarily worked as well as you hoped.
Canada has a strong
record of creating spin-off companies from universities and government
laboratories (better than the US per capita or per money invested in R&D)
but a less successful record in sustaining these start-ups and growing
them into large companies.
Also in Canada,
we have a much weaker receptor capacity in industry for discoveries and
innovations emerging from publicly funded laboratories.
Larta VOX: What
are the best ways in general to help connect the scientific research community
to the business interests?
There are several
ways to do this. On way, for example, is by fostering R&D partnerships
between the labs and industry to which industry contributes its share
of funding. Industrial Research Chairs, Collaborative R&D Programs,
Industrial Partnership Facilities (NRC) are useful in this regard. Another
way is through Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCEs), which bring together
a critical mass of researchers in strategic areas of interest for Canada.
There is substantial partner (usually industry) investment and involvement
in NCEs, of which there are 22 at present. These networks do build closer
business-university ties. Student and post-doctoral internships in industry,
designed to specifically link (through a professor and his/her researchers)
and inform companies of university expertise in a given area can also
be very helpful.
Larta VOX: What
is needed to improve Canada's capacity to commercialize innovation in
the future?
A more integrated
and effective eco-system of risk financing for innovative companies, which
optimizes angel investment, institutional investment and VC investment
is needed. Government can help by setting appropriate tax and investment
incentives and by helping foster an entrepreneurial culture. Strong partnerships
across the spectrum: public-private, national, and international, particularly
university-industry and government lab-industry, but also consortia. Strategic
procurement policies should be established by government to support new
technology diffusion and development. Improved skills capacity at both
ends of the innovation cycle, i.e., in university industrial liaison/tech
transfer offices, and equally importantly, at the enterprise/company end
where a better appreciation of the role of innovation in driving business
success is also needed.
Larta VOX: You
have been asked to assist in the creation of an action plan that will
help Canada emerge as one of the world's technology commercialization
leaders. How is this daunting task progressing? What lessons have you
learned during the plan's preparation?
Canada has a Task
Force mandated by the Minister of Industry to develop an integrated and
comprehensive strategy for commercialization. This is due to report in
December, 2005. All of the issues mentioned in response to your question
about improving Canada's capacity to commercialize innovation will hopefully
be examined, as will the role of partnerships/networks, etc.
Larta VOX: How
are changes in the global economy affecting Canada's technology innovation
and commercialization efforts?
The rise of China
and India in particular has made Canada aware of both global challenges
(for example in manufacturing) and opportunities. The key for Canada is
to add value at the high end to industries through R&D and innovation
and global competitiveness. We cannot hope to compete in low-end manufacturing,
but we do have a tremendous advantage in that our natural resources (oil
and gas, coal, potash, uranium, zinc, nickel, diamonds, water and forest
products) provide a base underpinning for our economy. Again, even competitiveness
in these industries will depend on putting innovation in S&T to work
to enable better extraction, processing and transforming of these products
for world markets.
New initiatives
to sign collaborative S&T agreements with China, India, Brazil, South
Africa, etc., will help drive internationalization of R&D and commerce.
Larta VOX: What
should countries and communities be doing to encourage technology transfer,
innovation and commercialization?
From a community
viewpoint, catalyzing and fostering the growth of technology clusters
through local and regional innovation is increasingly the way forward.
This means harnessing local champions, local entrepreneurs and a full
spectrum of local organizations to work with the public sector institutions
(major government labs and universities) that provide the R&D base
and skilled people for technology development.
Canada has a growing
number of successful clusters across the country facilitated by the NRC's
cluster strategy.
Larta VOX: What
technology innovation lessons have you learned from your travels in Asia?
I have become very
familiar with the growth of the ITC sector in Taiwan through the medium
of investments in strategic information technologies by ITRI (Industrial
Technology Research Institute). The Science Based Industrial Park in Hsinchu
is one of the most successful in the world. Another in Taiwan is growing
fast.
The Taiwanese government
adopted a very aggressive, highly focused strategy for high tech growth
via strategic investment. This has paid off handsomely.
I have also followed
Singapore's developments closely and their Bio-opolis concept for the
Life Sciences and Biotechnology, which is another excellent example of
government "shooting for the top".
About Arthur Carty
Dr. Arthur Carty is
the National Science Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister. Before his appointment
as NSA in April 2004, he was President of the National Research Council
of Canada (NRC), the federal government's leading knowledge and innovation
organization for 10 years. Dr. Carty has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Nottingham
University. Prior to joining NRC in July 1994, he spent two years at Memorial
University and then 27 years at the University of Waterloo where he was
successively, Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Chemistry Department
and Dean of Research.
Dr. Carty still maintains
an active research group at NRC and continues to publish in his field
of synthetic chemistry and metallic clusters. He has over 300 publications
in refereed journals, and 5 patents in addition to book chapters and review
articles. He is a former President of the Canadian Society for Chemistry,
Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and of the Fields
Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada. Among his many awards are the Alcan Award of
the Chemical Institute of Canada, the E.W.R. Steacie Award of the Canadian
Society for Chemistry, the Montreal Medal of the Chemical Institute of
Canada and the Purvis Award of the Society of Chemical Industry. He has
received ten honorary degrees from Canadian and foreign universities,
is an Officer of the Order of Canada and Officier de l'Ordre national
du Mérite of France.
He serves on several
Boards including The Canadian Space Agency, the Communications Research
Centre and MITACS a Federal Network of Centres of Excellence. He is Chairman
of the Board of the Canadian Light Source and of the International Advisory
Board of the APEC Centre for Technology Foresight.
About Project T2
Project T2, November
8, 2005 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, will showcase
more than 50 new technologies from 25 leading universities and research
centers from 3 nations. The full day event also features panelists from
Mitsubishi, DuPont, Genzyme, Johnson & Johnson, and the National Institutes
of Health, who will share their views and insights with over 400 attendees.
This year's conference features leading research centers from California,
the Midwest, the East Coast, the Southeast, and Canada. A Best of Show
award will be given to the most promising company in each of two categories:
life sciences and engineering. For more information on Project
T2, click here or go to http://www.projectt2.org/index.asp.
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