Executive Summary

Introduction

When it was founded nearly 20 years ago, the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program represented a radical change to spur the transformation of research into real-life policies, products and services.

Back then, Canada's researchers competed for grant money and infrastructure in a system that did not appear to encourage information sharing, let alone knowledge translation. The “publish or perish” imperative for academic success seemed to place more importance on the presence of research findings in prestigious journals than in turning those findings into something marketable and life-enhancing.

The NCE program has done much to change that mindset and encourage the commercialization of science and technology (S&T) in Canada. In this regard, the NCE program has been the leading proponent for research that gets positive results for the Canadian economy and Canadians' quality of life. Research that works.
 
In 2007, two separate and independent evaluations praised the NCE program's efforts in this regard.

A report called Evaluation of the NCE Program, prepared for the Interagency Evaluation Steering Committee, said the NCE stands out for its efforts in “the creation of structured networks, the establishment of intersectoral partnerships, and knowledge utilization — in particular, the commercialization of research findings.”

Additionally, the NCE International Advisory Committee, a group of internationally respected authorities on S&T development, offered this praise in its Recommendations on the Future Direction of the NCE Program: “The NCE program has profoundly transformed the way research is done in universities and has pioneered innovative ways to translate research into economic growth and social progress.”

As the new programs that the NCE has taken on indicate, the Government of Canada has recognized that creating networks between researchers and industry is crucial in meeting the big challenges of the 21^st century.

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Fiscal Year 2007-08

NETWORK LIFECYCLES 2007-08

Networks	Funding Period	07-08	08-09	09- 10	10-11	11-12	12-13	13-14	14-15	15-16	16-17	17-18	18-19	19-20	20- 21
ISIS	1995-2009		MF
SFM	1995-2009		MF
CAN	1998-2012		MT			MF
GEOIDE	1998-2012		MT			MF
MITACS	1998-2012		MT			MF
CSN	1999-2013			MT			MF
CIPI	1999-2012		MT			MF
AUTO21	2000-2008	RC				MT			MF
CLLRNet	2001-2009	RC	***
CWN	2000-2008	RC				MT			MF
SCN	2000-2008	RC				MT			MF
AFMNet	2003-2010	MT			RC				MT			MF
ArcticNet	2003-2010	MT			RC				MT			MF
AllerGen	2004-2011		MT			RC				MT			MF
CDRN	2005-2009	MT
CON	2005-2009	MT
EDGE	2005-2009	MT
NICE	2005-2009	MT
PREVNet	2005-2009	MT
PrioNet	2005-2012		MT			RC				MT			MF

RC Competition for renewal of last funding cycle

MT Mid-term Review

 1^st Funding Cycle

 2^nd Funding Cycle

 MF Funding

*** Winding down funding

 Remaining years of eligible funding based on successful mid-term review and/or competition for renewal of last funding cycle and/or MF

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The Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research

The introduction of 11 new Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECRs) in February of 2008 marked the successful completion of a $165 million NCE-supervised competition.

It also fulfilled a Government of Canada commitment, made in Budget 2007, to promote more and stronger partnerships between researchers and industry.

These are exciting endeavours. Areas of expertise range from the development of immunologically-based cancer therapies to taking new technologies in subatomic physics to the commercially viable stage. They will strengthen the global competitiveness of Canada's vaccine industry and ensure that efforts to create the next generation of disease-targeting probes are translated into market-ready products.

While their centres' individual focuses are varied, all the CECRs have the same goal – to put research to work. Each will help to create, grow and maintain Canadian companies in order to capture new markets here in Canada and across the world.

The Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence

In Budget 2007, the Government also announced plans to commit $46 million to fund large-scale, collaborative networks that support private sector innovation.

The Government designated the NCE as secretariat for the new Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence. These new networks will be led by private sector consortia to generate new technologies and products that produce “knowledge economy” jobs and opportunities for Canadians.

The NCE solicited Letters of Intent from which ten applicants have been invited to submit full proposals. Competition winners will be announced in 2009, when the five new networks will receive four years of funding.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence

Throughout 2007-2008, the 15 fully funded Networks of Centres of Excellence and three New Initiative NCEs intensified their countrywide efforts to build multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral partnerships that connect research, industry and strategic investment.

The NCEs continue to focus on four strategic areas: advanced technologies; engineering and manufacturing; health, human development and biotechnology; and environment and natural resources. Their recent accomplishments range from improving automated auto parts inspection systems to launching a national consortium to protect groundwater supplies from pathogens.

The IRDI Program

The NCE program in 2007 took on the challenge of setting up a national intern program for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Begun in December of 2007 with an investment of $8.64 million over two years, the Industrial Research and Development Initiative's (IRDI's) goal is to place 1,200 graduate students and post-docs with businesses all over Canada by 2010.

The program is based on the highly successful ACCELERATE Canada model developed by the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS). After a peer-review process, ACCELERATE Canada, led by MITACS and including a group of several networks, was selected to operate the IRDI.