momentum

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Canadian Universities Research and Knowledge
Mobilization Performance Beyond Tripling
Presentation made to the ACCT Conference
2008 Daniel Hubert Michelle Gauthier November 24,
2008
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The Association of Universities and Colleges of
Canada

• Representing Canadas universities at home and
  abroad since 1911
• Membership Executive Heads of 94 public and
  private not-for-profit universities and
  university-degree level colleges
• Mandate
• Facilitate the development of public policy on
  higher education and university research
• Liaise with the federal government on university
  funding and policy priorities
• Encourage cooperation among universities,
  government, industry and communities as well as
  with international partners

3
Canadian universities commercialization
performance Beyond tripling

• Presentation outline
• RD investments and activities
• Drivers of change and key policy questions
• Benefits from university research and knowledge
  mobilization
• The way forward

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• RD investments and activities

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The private sector, the federal government and
universities are the main funders of research in
Canada
849 M (2.9)
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
1,482 M (5.1)
FOREIGN SOURCES
2,618 M (9.0)
UNIVERSITIES
4,758 M (16.4)
5,437 M (18.8)
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
29 billion
13,840 M (47.8)
PRIVATE SECTOR
Source Statistics Canada.
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All domestic funders of research have increased
their investments, though the overall rate of
growth has slowed significantly since 2001
billions
Source Statistics Canada.
7
Private sector and university research activities
contributed most significantly to the increase in
Canadas overall research performance
Source Statistics Canada.
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Canadas GERD to GDP ratio has not kept pace with
increases observed in leading competitor countries
Or most recent data. Source OECD, Main Science
and Technology Indicators 2008/1.
9
Compared to many countries, universities in
Canada perform more of the countrys RD
Source OECD, Main Science and Technology
Indicators 2008/1.
10
Funding sources of research performed by
universities, 2007
In 2007, an estimated 10.4 billion was invested
in university research
Millions
Federal, 2,787
Provincial, 1,067
Private sector, 881
Not-for-profit sector, 813
Foreign sources, 127
Total 10.433 billion
Source Statistics Canada.
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All sectors increased their investments in
university research over the last 15 years, most
notably the federal government
billions
Source Statistics Canada.
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• Drivers of change and key policy questions

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Five drivers of change

• Heightened recognition worldwide of the critical
  links between university RD and
  prosperity/quality of life
• Global race to attract and retain research talent
  and highly qualified university graduates
• Growing costs and complexity of the university
  research enterprise
• Increased emphasis on measuring the impact of
  university RD
• Strong impetus to partner across institutional,
  sectoral and geographic boundaries

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Universities RD partnerships

• University-private sector research collaboration
• University-government research collaboration
• University-community research collaboration
• Universities international research collaboration

• Rationale for the collaboration
• Breadth and depth of the collaboration
• Programs and mechanisms to support the
  collaboration

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University-private sector research collaboration

• 6.5 billion invested in university research over
  the last 10 years
• 6,000 research contracts valued at 370 million
• 25 university research and science parks house
  more than 750 hi-tech companies and research
  centres, employing more than 39,000 people and
  contributing over 3.8 billion annually to the
  national economy
• 934 Canadian scientific articles in the natural
  and health sciences and in engineering involved
  authors from both universities and the private
  sector
• More than 2,000 students pursue industrial
  internships with private sector companies every
  year

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Toward better collaboration with all sectors

• Mutual understanding and respect
• Recognition of roles and responsibilities
• Governance and decision-making
• Sharing the costs of research
• Incentives and rewards for faculty

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Federal support for the four foundational
elements of university research

• Public investments in university research focus
  on four interrelated, foundational elements
• Developing, attracting and retaining highly
  qualified research talent (people)
• Putting in place and operating cutting edge
  research infrastructure and facilities
  (infrastructure and facilities)
• Producing new ideas (direct costs of research)
• Providing institutional support for the research
  effort (institutional costs of research)
• Key policy question What is the appropriate mix
  and level of investments in university research?

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• Benefits from university research and knowledge
  mobilization

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People educated in a research-rich environment

• Mobilization of information, insights, theories,
  methods, skills, informed opinions and culture
• Development of skills conducive to
  entrepreneurship
• Responsiveness and adaptability of the workforce
• Generation of economic and social value for
  individuals and society at large

While university graduates made up about
22 percent of the population aged 25 to 64 in
2006, they accounted for 34 percent of earnings,
contributed 40 percent of the income tax base and
received only 13 percent of the direct government
transfers to individuals
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Knowledge generated and disseminated

• Knowledge repositories and archives
• Breakthroughs in fundamental knowledge
• Publications and citations
• International prizes and fellowships
• Global research talent

While Canada accounts for only one half of one
percent of the worlds population, its
publications accounted for 4.7 percent of the
world total in 2005, resulting in an eighth place
ranking in the world
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Innovations Fuelled

• Commercialization of university research
• New products and processes
• New services, policies and public sector
  applications
• New ways of thinking and behaving

With a cumulative economic impact of at least 60
billion in 2007, as well as its wider impact on
Canadian society and culture, university research
is a critical driver of prosperity and quality of
life in Canada
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History of the tripling target

• Federal innovation strategy
• Framework of agreed principles between AUCC and
  the government of Canada
• Creation of an ad hoc committee to develop the
  indicator
• Vice-presidents, research
• Directors of technology transfer offices or
  industry liaison offices
• AUCC staff

The tripling target A political marker of
universities engagement in commercialization
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Universities are increasing their
commercialization capacity
Base for the tripling target (1999) 23.4
M Current level (2006) 54 M Target (2010)
70.2 M
Source Statistics Canada and AUCC calculations.
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Example of a new product

• New drug delays progression of MS
• BioMS is a spin-off firm that was created via the
  University of Albertas technology transfer
  office based on research at the universitys
  Multiple Sclerosis Patient Care and Research
  Clinic
• This research unit has developed a new drug that
  has shown to delay median time to disease
  progression in MS patients by five years, by
  targeting a gene that is found in approximately
  75 percent of MS patients worldwide
• In Canada alone, MS affects 75,000 people
• This has resulted in one of the largest
  pharmaceutical deals ever seen in Canada worth
  as much as 500 million, plus royalties on sales
  of the product if successful

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Example of a new process
The University of Western Ontario undertook a
modest research contract to create a nozzle that
would improve the efficiency of fluid cokers, a
processing unit used in the oil refinery industry
to produce synthetic crude oil

• Modest research contract

Millions saved annually

None of this wealth creation is formally
attributed to the university in national
statistics on contract research or
commercialization
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Example of a new way of thinking and behaving

• PREVNet
• Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence
  Network (PREVNet), a coalition of Canadians
  concerned about bullying
• Includes experts from 26 Canadian universities
  and 42 national organizations

According to a 2004 study, approximately 12 of
girls and 18 of boys reported bullying others at
least twice in previous months, whereas 15 of
girls and 18 of boys reported being victimized
at least twice over the same time period
The impact of initiatives such as PREVNet on
bullying is immeasurable
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The way forward

• How do we improve national indicators to measure
  commercialization and research impacts more
  broadly?
• How can you better communicate the value-add of
  TTOs and ILOs internally and externally?
• What role should TTOs and ILOs play in filling
  the gap between research discoveries and their
  applications?

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• Thank you

www.aucc.ca