Canada needs research support to match our ambition

The start of this academic year is an exciting time for Canadian universities. But beyond welcoming students back to classes and laboratories, it is also a time to think about the critical role our institutions play in a successful national industrial policy. Researchers on campuses across the country lead pioneering research in many fields, including health sciences, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. These are sectors where Canada can and does lead, and this research has the potential to drive economic growth and shape our collective future. One example is the University of Ottawa’s research in wastewater surveillance to monitor the spread of COVID-19 variants, as well as monkeypox, influenza, polio, and other diseases. These breakthroughs have been praised and implemented around the world. No industrial strategy can succeed without such world-leading research. To make Canada a global leader, our public and private sectors need to invest in innovation, research, and development, and given that peer countries are doubling down on funding, we need to sustain and enhance our investments in key research areas. U.S. President Joe Biden recently approved hundreds of billions of dollars in new research investments. Germany plans to increase its investments to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2025. The United Kingdom plans to grow funding for education and innovation to 2.4 per cent. Meanwhile, Canada has no established target, and an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report projects that we risk having the lowest productivity growth among advanced economies between 2030 and 2060. While the Government of Canada deserves credit for its initiatives to support research, more than a decade has passed since funding was substantially increased for key federal agencies that deliver this support. Such funding is critical to attract the world’s best researchers, who may turn to better resourced universities and laboratories in other countries to pursue their work. This is a concern, because an innovation-driven economy starts with research, and research starts with finding, supporting, and keeping the right people. So, what needs to happen? Increasing public funding levels is one answer, and the House Standing Committee on Science and Research has called for the federal government to review funding of research scholarships and fellowships, and to regulate these funds to the consumer price index. Another solution is to invest in centres of excellence; hubs that bring governments, academia, and businesses together to invest in high-growth research and in talent development that supports a strong, diversified and inclusive workforce. At the University of Ottawa, we are doing just this, laying the groundwork to build the Advanced Medical Research Centre (AMRC), a 350,000 square-foot facility and innovation hub, located in close proximity to our Faculty of Medicine, the General Campus of The Ottawa Hospital, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. The AMRC will be a game-changer for health care and for the region—a space to bring together 1,000 leaders, researchers, and clinicians under one roof, to work alongside as many as 50 startup businesses. This seamless sharing of knowledge between hospitals, labs, and biomanufacturing companies will lead to faster discovery and commercialization of new technologies and treatments. It will also attract cutting-edge talent from around the globe to make the National Capital Region an epicentre of a thriving tech and biomedical sector. This is how public support of fundamental and translational research and infrastructure unlocks private investments and innovation, creating high-paying private sector jobs in the process. The AMRC is only one such initiative driven by the University of Ottawa. We are also leveraging 20 years of expertise in quantum research to create NexQT (Nexus for Quantum Technologies), an institute to help develop and commercialize applications, such as quantum imaging, sensors, and real-life solutions to strengthen security in communications and medicine. Securing Canada’s place as global innovation leader will not happen without such initiatives, and, in a time of economic uncertainty, the countries that are best able to attract global research talent will fare the best in this regard. From university laboratories to corporate offices and Parliament Hill, we all need to collaborate and innovate to renew our support for research, attract world-class researchers, and train the world's best students to become our academic and industry leaders of the future. Universities are ready to play our role, working as key drivers of innovation. What we need now is for governments and businesses to commit to more robust funding, in order to build a more healthy, sustainable, and prosperous Canada. Jacques Frémont is president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa. In 2013, Quebec’s legislative assembly appointed him to chair the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission. Prior to this appointment, he worked at the Open Society Foundations, in New York, as director of the International Higher Education Support Program. The Hill Times