The Canadian Challenge

Canada’s excellence in basic research and its long term commitment to remaining in the lead in this area is beyond dispute. However, in all areas of research there remains a nagging gap – a gap that, despite the best efforts of the government at all levels, shows signs of widening – in the so-called translational step. This is the step that takes research from the academic labs and converts it into technologies and products that have a place in society. There are several reasons why this is the case today. Some of the reasons are as follows:

CLOSING THE FUNDING GAP

The traditional funding for research which has come from the government has not included any investment in what is today being called the “Translational” step. There is a lot of funding for peer reviewed excellent basic research but there has not been comparatively substantial investment in encouraging that research to be translated into products. To be fair, this is being addressed by the government in the last two or three years but there is still a long way to go here.

SECTOR SPECIFIC LEAD

The private sector is extremely risk-averse acting more like bankers than like traditional venture capitalists when it comes to investments. Most of the investments are syndicated to reduce risk, and money is spread thinly in a large portfolio to minimize the singular risk. The main problem with this approach is that minimization of risk tends to simultaneously minimize the possibility of spectacular successes. Spreading the risk over a large diverse portfolio also simultaneously minimizes the chances that the investors REALLY know the areas they are investing in well enough to offer an “edge” in terms of knowledge and connections that can make the difference in today’s world.

GLOBAL MARKET ACCESS

There is an absence of a large and urgent market need in any given area in Canada. The size of the population and the land mass over which it is spread ensure that there are some real hurdles to overcome before the full potential of a product in the Canadian market alone can be realized. If it were possible to overcome the hurdles already cited the sheer diversity of the population from coast to coast to coast adds another blockade to success.