Category Archives: R&D Policy

Alberta Research Council culture goes National! Over the course of his 12-year tenure as President and CEO of the Alberta Research Council (ARC), John McDougall steered the organization towards “delivering and aligning science and technology solutions to industry’s needs”. Less … Continue reading →

“What makes a country prosperous is not investment in science and technology. It is businesses producing high paying jobs by having unique products and processes that a customer needs”. This is from Roger Martin, a former management consultant, who is … Continue reading →

The fattest course on the menu of Canada’s federal support for R&D is SR&ED, the $4-billion “Scientific Research and Experimental Development” tax credit program. So many people have been beating on SR&ED lately, which make you wonder whether it still have … Continue reading →

Innovation is “not a linear progression of basic science into new products“. It requires “patience, persistence and investment”. This is from a call from the League of European Research Universities for the European Union to make substantial long-term investments in … Continue reading →

Here we go again! A headline from the latest NSERC-Contact newsletter. CREATE adds industrial and international opportunities “The CREATE program will have two new dimensions in the 2012 competition. In keeping with NSERC’s goal to give students the opportunity to learn … Continue reading →

The observer couldn’t believe what she was hearing as she watched one of the subgroups consisting of 5 panelists in NSERC’s new conference model. “The applicant has a couple of papers in the Journal of … . Does anyone know … Continue reading →

Invention and Innovation are obviously closely interrelated.  But innovation is about economics, while discovery and invention are about knowledge. Innovation is about now, discovery is about now and the future. The problems arise when we start using the same measuring … Continue reading →

US House Republicans released a continuing resolution (CR) bill proposing to cut $100B from FY11 budget. How did the National Science Foundation (NSF) fare?

Kevin Lynch is back lecturing in the Financial Post on what Canada’s researchers need to do to solve the country’s economic woes, and reminiscing about his own days in government, when he was essentially running the country’s S&T agenda before … Continue reading →

At the invitation of U. Alberta’s President, Indira Samarasekera, the who’s who of Canada’s political, business, academic, and media elite converged yesterday on the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa to celebrate the establishment of the Canada Excellence Research Chair Program (CERC). The official … Continue reading →

They are: “success, culture, media, games, social norms, lawyers, museum, leisure, stimulus.” I kid you not!

With the increasing trend towards funding non-peer reviewed research, it was only a matter of time before everyone got in on the action. The colleges are the latest entry into what is becoming a packed field. And, the growing influence … Continue reading →

Here is a comprehensive set of statistics on the 2010 NSERC Discovery Grants Program competition. This extensive report was prepared by NSERC and includes tables and figures that provide summary information on the 2010 competition, but also a few comparisons … Continue reading →

Many thanks to our colleague David Wehlau, Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s University, for compiling the following data comparing average Discovery Grants, their numbers, as well as the available funding for each of the NSERC-supported disciplines.  The data, which covers … Continue reading →

… wrote a Canadian scientist describing reactions to the posts of “Piece of Mind” on NSERC’s new evaluation system. I am reproducing (with his/her permission) the following email: You are definitely not alone!

“I find your blog thought-provoking,” was one of the most pleasing comments I received since the beginning of this blog. Another colleague wrote: “It is very easy for people to become complacent and simply accept the sorts of changes that … Continue reading →