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Federal Science and Technology: The Pursuit of Excellence
2.1 Advisory Council on Science and Technology — Activities in 2003
In its early years, the ACST provided advice to the federal government on the commercialization of university research, skill requirements, Canada’s role in international S&T;, and the indirect costs of federally supported research. Since the November 2002 Innovation and Learning Summit, the ACST has been very active in providing advice on Canada's Innovation Strategy, Achieving Excellence. The ACST received a broad mandate from the Prime Minister to provide advice on the way forward for the Innovation Strategy. In 2003 the ACST chose to concentrate on providing recommendations that centre on the research and commercialization themes of the innovation agenda.
In providing advice to chart Canada’s future course in research and commercialization, the overarching theme of the ACST’s recommendations to the Prime Minister may be expressed as building Canadian business capacity to successfully transform knowledge into national wealth and well-being. The four key policy themes contained in the ACST’s recommendations are:
- Seed-Stage Commercialization — Building business innovation capacity through a new initiative that bridges financing and skills gaps to address the seed-stage project development challenge in Canada.
- Human-Capital Development — Ensuring a supply in Canada of highly skilled people with a short-term focus on university graduate studies and a long-term focus on children.
- Communication and Shared Decision Making — Improving communication and shared decision making among all stakeholders (e.g. provinces, municipalities, the research community, and the business and financial sectors) to build an effective national innovation system.
- Strategic Investments in Research — Continuing to build Canadian research capacity through strategic investments in Canada’s research enterprise.
As follow-up to these recommendations, the ACST Deputy Chair initiated an active consultation process with key decision makers and stakeholders within government to discuss the ACST’s findings. This helped to build awareness of the strategic role that the ACST’s recommendations can play in Canada’s research and commercialization agenda. The Deputy Chair also sought to foster stronger relations with other organizations in an effort to create greater coherence in Canada’s efforts in scientific research and commercialization. In that context, the ACST will work closely with the Minister of Industry and Canada’s new National Science Advisor as it continues to explore and debate emerging policy issues related to Canada’s future research and innovation capacities.
For further information on the ACST, please visit their Web site.
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