Montreal

Canada must double its population of trained researchers, its number of grant awards for graduate students, and its federal investment in research and development, says an innovation strategy document published by the government last week.

The document, which was released by Allan Rock, the industry minister, also proposes moves to attract more students from abroad. Admitting that Canadians' quality of life is declining relative to the United States, Rock warns that it will fall even further unless Canada “stems the outflow of talent and capital”.

The paper says that Canada should give priority to supporting the direct costs of university research, implement an award for industrial innovation, and, through the Canadian Academies of Science, build stronger national scientific bodies.

The strategy paper was welcomed by industrial and scientific organizations, although critics say that it lacks either hard commitments to spending money or specific details of how its objectives will be met.

It “shows tremendous foresight”, says Mike Lazaridis, president of Research In Motion, who gave Can$100 million (US$63 million) to found the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario (see Nature 414, 391; 2001).

Nancy Hughes Anthony, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says the business community welcomes the strategy, particularly the policies for making the economy more competitive. But “innovation must be driven by the private sector”, she says.

A series of meetings will now be held to discuss the strategy, culminating in a plan to implement it over a 10-year period.

→ http://www.innovationstrategy.gc.ca