SPEECHES
June 19, 2005
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
2005/28
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE JIM PETERSON,
MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE,
AT THE
BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION (BIO)
2005 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
Introduction
It is a pleasure for me to be here today, representing Canada. BIO 2005 is a prime
opportunity to showcase Canada’s strengths in biotechnology. We are a country of just
32 million, but we now have the second-largest number of biotech companies in the
world. We have the third-highest revenues from biotechnology of all nations. And we
have the greatest investment per capita in research and development in biotechnology.
Across Canada, we have 13 major biotech clusters. These clusters are tied together by
national centres of excellence, creating an incredible collaboration between universities,
hospitals and government institutions with strong support from municipalities, provinces
and federal agencies.
We have the highest growth rate among the G7 in R&D spending (Canada: 26 percent;
United States: 16 percent; European Union: 2 percent), in workers devoted to R&D, in
patent applications and in business expenditures on R&D.
By 2006-07, annual federal support for research in the higher education sector will be
almost $2 billion more than in 1997-98, representing an investment of more than
$11 billion over that period. In fact, we have the highest proportion in the OECD
[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] of workers with
post-secondary education.
Even with these remarkable numbers, we cannot afford to be complacent. As the
amazing advances on display here show, the world is a competitive place.
Given the complexities of this sector—long development times, high costs and
significant risks—no company, country or individual can succeed alone. Biotechnology
is truly borderless, with partnerships spanning the globe to develop innovative
technologies and products. Building these partnerships in the biotech industry is a
priority for Canada.
We are open for business, and that’s why we’re here.
Traditionally, infrastructure meant building roads, bridges, ports and railways. In the
knowledge economy, we must also develop an educated, skilled workforce, a
supportive research environment, fair and transparent regulatory systems, access to
money and tax incentives, and the right conditions for commercialization.
Over the past decade, and under the leadership of Prime Minister Paul Martin,
Canadians have worked hard to provide this infrastructure. In the process, Canada has
become the business partner of choice and a magnet for investment. Canada’s trade
surplus in goods is $66.1 billion.
With its eighth straight fiscal surplus, the creation of 255,000 new jobs last year, the
13th year of uninterrupted growth and a reduction in the debt from almost 70 percent of
GDP 10 years ago to just under 40 percent this year, Canada is the best-performing
economy in the entire G7—offering just the kind of investment climate needed to attract
confident investors from around the world.
We have the lowest interest rates in 40 years. We have diversified our economy. And
we have made strategic investments in research and development. Both the Economist
Intelligence Unit and the KPMG Competitive Alternatives Study have identified Canada
as the best place out of all G7 countries to do business. And with an overall cost
advantage of 9 percent over the United States, Canada is the world’s best bridge into
the NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] market—the world’s richest.
All of this has given Canada crucial advantages in the global competition for
investment. In short, we have succeeded in making Canada an unqualified economic
and fiscal success. We are now ready to take our place as a world leader in innovation,
where biotechnology can thrive in a culture of excellence.
Domestic environment
As a government, our priorities are to sustain the dramatic increase in federally funded
research (which has doubled since 1997-98), improve the commercial opportunities for
innovations coming out of the research community and facilitate a significant
improvement in the competitiveness of Canadian-based bioscience firms.
We want to support more Canadian bioscience champions in the global marketplace.
To keep our competitive edge, the Government of Canada continues to improve the
biotechnology environment in five ways.
First, we have committed to doubling our investment in research and development to
become one of the top five research-intensive nations in the world by 2010. We are well
on our way.
In 2003-04, the government invested $746 million in S&T for biotechnology. We’ve put
$600 million into Genome Canada to maintain Canada as one of the leaders in
genomics research. We have also provided an additional $375 million to three granting
councils [the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council]
and $260 million annually for indirect research costs in universities and hospitals.
Second, along with the provinces, we provide the best tax incentives in the G7 for R&D.
Third, we are constantly working to improve our regulatory and commercial
environment:
• The 2004 KPMG study of business costs concluded that Canada has a
16.6 percent cost advantage over the United States in biomedical R&D.
• We’re following through on “smart regulations,” with particular attention to
biotechnology, including drug approvals.
• We are collaborating closely with the United States and Mexico in the North
American Security and Prosperity Partnership to enhance our overall global
competitiveness.
• We have put into the field trade commissioners who specialize in S&T. All of our
commissioners are also trained in S&T.
Fourth, we are providing commercialization of university and government lab research
through a $75-million pilot project and a $250-million fund in the BDC [Business
Development Bank of Canada] to encourage technology transfer and to strengthen
venture capital investments.
Fifth, we are making infrastructure investments for key bioscience centres of excellence
such as the BC Cancer Foundation, the Medical and Related Sciences (MaRS)
Discovery District in Toronto, and the Atlantic clusters initiative. We are also investing in
bioscience firms through the Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Business
Development Bank of Canada.
These efforts are getting results and producing some extraordinary Canadian success
stories:
• QLT, one of the stars of the Canadian biotech industry, produces a drug that
fights age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in persons
over 50.
• ID Biomedical recently announced that it will be receiving funding from the U.S.
National Institutes of Health to develop vaccines for a pandemic flu, SARS and
meningitis C.
• Just two weeks ago, scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada, in
partnership with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases, announced the development of vaccines against the Ebola and
Marburg viruses that are effective in non-human primates.
Moving forward: Partnerships
While Canada’s successes have been spectacular, we know that the way to accelerate
progress is to work with partners around the world.
Canadians are here at BIO 2005 to forge new linkages and partnerships in discovery
and innovation.
As part of this effort, I am launching the International Science and Technology
Partnerships Program to promote collaborative research between Canadian and foreign
scientists. The new, five-year program is designed to build S&T partnerships with key
countries such as India, China, Israel and Brazil.
We are currently in negotiations with India and [India’s Science and Technology]
Minister Kapil Sibal. We will begin collaborative work involving exchanges of scientists;
the organization of seminars, symposiums, conferences, and scientific and technical
exhibitions; and the conduct of joint S&T projects. We will eliminate overlap and
duplication and generate synergies in research. And, by having business partners, we
will ensure that our joint work has practical applications and that our new products and
services will be brought to market in a timely manner.
International collaboration is critical to new discoveries. We’ve created virtual institutes,
linking scientists and investigators throughout the world and sharing research and
information. For example, through funding provided by Genome Canada, Peter Singer
of the University of Toronto and partners have been exploring models for institutional
collaboration as part of a “genome diplomacy” approach that aims to position Canada
as a global leader.
Strengthening and expanding these global partnerships will be key to the future
success of Canada’s biosciences industry.
Conclusion
Many of our Canadian biotech companies have demonstrated a particularly strong
commercialization potential and are poised to grow and succeed. There are huge
opportunities for them in health, the environment, energy, chemicals, natural resources,
agriculture and manufacturing.
I want to assure you that our provincial and federal governments will continue to
support our research institutions, universities and hospitals. We will continue to reach
out globally to partner in S&T and in research and innovation. We have the
infrastructure, the people and the will to win.
Thank you.
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