Introduction - The Canadian Way

The Cornerstones of Canada’s S&T excellence

"The Canadian Way” of pursuing scientific research is founded on partnerships, networks and excellence. These are essential ingredients at all levels of the Canadian innovation system, from governments, to universities, to industry, to the international partnerships that are becoming ever more frequent as the world’s business community has come to recognize Canada as an ideal country in which to conduct R&D. In fact, networks have become a major contributor to The Canadian Way of pursuing research excellence.

Canadians are naturally inclined to collaborate. Our earliest scientific and engineering exploits included completion of a 6,400-kilometre national railway that linked the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. One of our first telecommunications breakthroughs was Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. Eventually, we went on to create one of the most modern communications networks in the world.

Today we are home to such innovative firms as Nortel Networks in communications, Bombardier in transportation, Shire BioChem Inc. in pharmaceuticals and Ballard Power Systems in fuel cells. These and other companies in the information technology, life sciences, aerospace, advanced manufacturing and resource technology sectors have laid the foundation for our current success in the knowledge economy.

Excellence - a success factor in Canada’s innovation system

Canada’s government-supported programs promote excellence through the competitive processes they use to evaluate collaborative research proposals. This rigour has built excellence into all levels of the Canadian innovation system: from individual research to partnerships among industry, government and universities.

The drive for excellence has also encouraged the development of strong formal and informal networks and collaborative programs that capitalize on each other’s strengths. Examples include our model Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program and our risk-sharing mechanisms, such as partnerships with federal laboratories and R&D support programs.

Increased growth in regional S&T

S&T collaborations are also expanding rapidly in Canada’s provinces and cities. The early impetus came from the information technology, life sciences, telecommunications and aerospace sectors. Expanding clusters of research and industry facilities are concentrating around particular cities. Typical examples are the burgeoning information and communication technology clusters that have developed in Canada’s national capital, Ottawa (Ontario), and other major cities such as Vancouver (British Columbia), Calgary (Alberta), Toronto (Ontario) and Montréal (Quebec).

International collaborations welcome

As members of the international science community, Canadian researchers have always interacted with their counterparts elsewhere. Now, however, these collaborations are growing in scope and scale. And as Canada’s S&T profile has begun to attract notice globally, the international business community has come to see Canada as a fertile location for R&D. Harbingers of this increased international participation in Canada’s S&T partnership system are the substantial knowledge-intensive R&D investments made throughout Canada by such multinationals as Ericsson, IBM, PMC Sierra, Pfizer, Motorola, Pratt & Whitney, Merck Frosst, DuPont, Imperial Oil and DaimlerChrysler. In 2002, 22 of the top 100 corporate R&D performers in Canada were foreign multinationals.  

So for an overview of The Canadian Way of achieving S&T excellence, read on.