NSERC's RPP and Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation

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Rick Warner; Manager, NSERC-PacificRick Warner; Manager, NSERC-Pacific

December 05, 2009December 05, 2009

Vancouver, BCVancouver, BC

NSERC’s Research Partnerships Programs NSERC’s Research Partnerships Programs and Strategy for Partnerships and Innovationand Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation

Presentation at CAURA West Presentation at CAURA West

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Outline

• NSERC Background• Context for Change• Input and NSERC initiatives planned• Interact and Engage• Regional Opportunity Fund • Discussion

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NSERC Vision and MissionNSERC Vision and Mission

VISIONNSERC will help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians.

MISSIONNSERC will achieve this by investing in people, discovery and innovation through programs that support post-secondary research in the natural sciences and engineering on the basis of national competitions.

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NSERC’s Five GoalsNSERC’s Five Goals

1. Fuel the advancement of knowledge in science and engineering and ensure that Canadian scientists and engineers can be leaders and key players in a global knowledge community.

2. Connect and apply the strength of the academic research system to addressing the opportunities and challenges of prosperity for Canada.

3. Inspire new generations of students to pursue careers in science and engineering, and provide them with the means to develop their full potential.

4. Demonstrate NSERC’s accountability and how the results of its investments in Canadian research and training benefit Canadians.

5. Increase the visibility of Canadian research.

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PacificPrairies

Quebec

Atlantic

Ontario

PacificPrairies

Quebec

Atlantic

Ontario

PacificPrairies

Quebec

Atlantic

Ontario

Regional Offices

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People AdvantageAttract, retain and grow base of knowledge workers.

Entrepreneurial AdvantageTranslate knowledge into wealth, wellness and well-being

Knowledge AdvantageBuild on research strengths, generate new ideas

Alignment with the S&T Strategy Advantages

NSERC

1,400 company partners

26,500 students

12,000 professors

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NSERC Budget 2009-10(millions of dollars)

Total : $1,054

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The NSERC Maze … quiz to follow!

NSERC Programs

Students & Fellows Professors Partners Science Promoters Institution & Colleges

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Postdoctoral

Chairs

Grants

Research Tools,Instruments & Infrastructure

SPARK

Promo Science

CCIIRC

Students

Partners

RPA

I2I

CRD

SNG

SPG

I-USRA

IPS

IRDF

Supplements

USRA

USRA-I

CHRP

CREATE

DG

CWSE

CDE

CEDE

IRC

NRC

Individual

NRS

ST

SRO

Group

Subatomic Physics

MRS

RTI

Supplements

PGS / CGS

IPS

Supplements IRDF PDF

AANSE

EC Atmospehric & Meteorological Undergraduate

NRINT

AANSE

Postgraduate

CGS-FSS

Alexander Graham Bell CGS

Vanier CGS

Summer Program in Japan or Taiwan

NRINT

AANSE Postdoctoral

NRINTJapan Society for the Promotion

of Science PDFVS Canadian Gov’t Labs

Accelerator Supplement

IPS 1

IPS 2

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Research Partnerships Programs (RPP)

Students

I-USRA

IPS

IRDF

IRC Partners

Collaborative Research & Development Grants (CRD)

Idea to Innovation Program (I2I)

Strategic Project Grant (SPG)

Strategic Network Grants (SNG)

Research Partnership Agreement (RPA))

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Context for Federal S&T Funding

• 2007 S&T Strategy: Canada has a productivity gap with trading partners, that

can partly be addressed through innovation Canada has a people, knowledge (discovery) &

entrepreneurial (innovation) advantage

• STIC State of the Nation 2008 Report: Canada invests strongly in universities Overall industry’s R&D levels are low Partnering is important to innovation Canadian companies lag on partnering

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Business Spending on R&D is Low

Innovation and Business Strategy: Why Canada Falls Short, CCA, April 2009

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University R&D is Canada’s Advantage

State of the Nation 2008, Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation System, Science, Technology and Innovation Council, 2009

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Partnered Innovation is Critical

Where Do Innovations Come From? Transformations in the U.S. National Innovation System, 1970-2006, Block & Keller, July 2008

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But Few Canadian Firms Collaborate

State of the Nation 2008, Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation System, Science, Technology and Innovation Council, 2009

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Canada System is heavily weighted to Indirect Innovation Support

(2005 OR LATEST YEAR)

Pe

r C

en

t o

f G

DP

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

Canada U.S.

Cost of fiscal incentives (typically R&D tax credits)

Direct government funding of Business R&D

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

Canada U.S. U.K. Netherlands Australia Japan

Cost of fiscal incentives (typically R&D tax credits)

Direct government funding of Business R&D

Data Source: (OECD, 2008d)

CANADA IS AN ‘OUTLIER’ IN TERMS OF RELIANCE ON TAX-BASED INCENTIVESCANADA IS AN ‘OUTLIER’ IN TERMS OF RELIANCE ON TAX-BASED INCENTIVES

Innovation and Business Strategy: Why Canada Falls Short, CCA, April 2009

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NSERC Context

• 20,000 companies file SR&ED claims: NSERC currently partners with:

• 65 of top 100• perhaps 7% (1400) of all R&D companies• 2% of small companies (70% are unaware of

NSERC)

• Universities provide: Disruptive innovation, students, publish or perish

• Most SMEs want: Incremental innovation, projects in weeks, secrecy

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Why do a Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation?

• NSERC has a strong base of industry partnered programs that invest $300M/year in universities & colleges -attracting $56M +NCE$$ per year of industry cash

• NSERC’s goal with the Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation (SPI) is to:Realize more value for Canada from the

Government’s investment in post-secondary R&D capabilities.

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Input gathering (Nov 2008 – March 2009)

• Discussions focused on industry innovation & partnership

• Regional meetings organized by Regional Offices Organized as half-day meetings

• Semi-structured (facilitator and questions)

• 230 people from industry VPs, directors of R&D, R&D managers

• 150 people from academia Vice Presidents – Research, Industry Liaison Officers, faculty

• Meetings with Science Based Departments and Agencies (30 people) Director Generals, Directors, Research Group leaders …

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BC Consultations

• Five separate sessions BC Technology Industry Association (25

attendees) Life Sciences BC (21 attendees) Nanotech and Advanced Materials(14 attendees) New Media (14 attendees) Post secondary (18 attendees)

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Experts helping develop the Strategy Dan Muzyka (Chair), Sauder School of Business at UBC & member of NSERC Council

Jean-Paul Deveau, President, Acadian Seaplants Ltd

Roland Hosein, Vice-President, GE Canada

Karimah Es Sabar, President - Life Sciences BC

Ray Bassett, ADM, Policy and Strategic Planning, Alberta Ministry of Advanced Education and Technology

David Fung, Chairman and CEO

ACDEG Group of Companies & Chair Canadian manufacturers and Exporters

James Blatz, Associate Chair, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba & member of Council

Jim Roche, President & CEO - Stratford Managers Corporation & member of Committee on Research Partnerships

Edwin Bourget, Vice President Research and Innovation, Laval University & member of Committee on Research Partnerships

David Hunter, recently retired Vice President, Engineering Academic Research Projects, SAP Business Objects

Esteban Chornet, Chief Technology Officer

Enerkem

Hany Moustapha, Senior Fellow & Directeur, Pratt & Whitney Canada Technology

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People

• Key issues identified: Technical skills are excellent, non-technical need some

improvement Companies need help building innovation skills SMEs avoid hiring new graduates due to training time/costs

• Actions for NSERC: Work with NRC/IRAP to place pre-qualified doctoral

candidates Help SMEs hire new graduates from partnered projects Masters fellowship (requested by SMEs) Enhance CREATE program with focus on “soft” skills

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Discovery (Knowledge)

• Key issues identified: Focus resources for impact ( … 2007 S&T Strategy)

NSERC Will: Support focused efforts by leading research groups on

problems defined by government and industry (Strategic Priorities Initiatives)

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Innovation (Entrepreneurship) …1 of 3

Three types of input:

1. From companies that see value in university-industry partnerships we heard: Intellectual property is a major challenge Projects usually don’t realize objectives Professors’ research does not align with our needs

NSERC has introduced: A more liberal IP policy Support for project management for partnered grants Support for market studies for researchers

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New IP Policy• Encourage the utilization of research results, developed

wholly or in part using NSERC funds, in Canada for the benefit of Canadians.

• Promote the development of fruitful and productive partnerships and recognize the unique contribution each partner brings to the partnership and the need for each partner to benefit from the relationship and have their interests protected.

• Support the publication of research results in the open literature. NSERC does not support secret or classified research.

• Ensure that a student’s graduation is not impeded by IP issues.

• Support a researcher’s right to use his/her research results for non-commercial purposes in future research and in teaching.

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Project Management Costs

• Certain expenditures related to project management are now eligible as a direct cost of research up to a maximum of 10% of the total direct costs

• The goal is to enable researchers to make use of dedicated project management resources for improved realization of university-industry grants in the Strategic Project Grants (SPG), Collaborative Research and Development (CRD), Industrial Research Chair (IRC), Idea to Innovation (I2I) Phase IIb and Strategic Network Grants (SNG) programs only

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Market Studies

• Market Assessment projects are designed to enable institutions to do a market study on a product, process or technology they plan to develop.

• NSERC will support up to three-quarters of the costs of the project with the institution (including the ILO office) providing the balance in cash. Funding is available for up to 12 months, with a maximum contribution from NSERC of $15,000, and is non-renewable.

• Market assessment project can be presented as a stand-alone or together with a Phase I application

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Innovation (Entrepreneurship) … 2 of 3

2. From Companies that want to explore university industry partnerships we heard:

NSERC who? Need help in identifying potential university/industry partners Building trust takes time and effort Identifying and getting funding is complex and difficult

NSERC will: Launch an eBulletin about partnerships and NSERC Support early costs for researchers to build credibility with

companies Support relationship builders to help make linkages (Re)Orient our regional offices to support industry partnerships Review our processes (partnership programs)

Other relevant approaches: BIZPAL-i, Concierge

2/3rds of our CRD partners are 1st-timers

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Innovation (Entrepreneurship) … 3 of 3

3. From people who see little value in partnering with universities we heard:

Universities pursue disruptive innovation, work on projects measured in years, publish the results

Industry (SMEs) do incremental innovations, with projects measured in weeks, and hide results (trade secrets)

NSERC will: Pilot small and agile industry-focused centres at colleges and

universities that provide services and conduct development projects with local companies (building on the very successful CCTT model in Quebec)

Other Relevant approaches: Vouchers, SBIR

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In the Longer term, NSERC will:

• People: Work to get new graduates working in SMEs Increase soft-skills of graduates

• Discovery (Knowledge): Continue to focus resources on problems of

national importance

• Innovation (Entrepreneurship): Improve the relevance of our industry programs Help build relationships towards partnerships Explore new models for realizing value

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Recall: The Issues

Build Relationships

Structural Changes

People & Skills

Focus on Priorities

•Bridging Academia & Industry •Building Relationships •Building Distinct SME Partnerships •International

•Intellectual Property Management •Valley of Death •Critical Mass for Technology Integration •Government Silos

•Developing Non-Technical Skills •Building a Critical Mass of Technical Expertise •Building Receptor Capacity in Industry

•Focus resources

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•People & Skills:•Make it more attractive for innovating companies to hire people with advanced degrees

•Structural:•New approaches that draw on University and College capabilities•(Easy) changes to make programs & policies more relevant

•Build relationships:•Companies and researchers need help finding each other, and getting partnerships started.

The Strategy: Approaches

•Focus on Priorities:•Build depth on the basis of technical area, industry, and/or region by focusing resources

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Issues with Actions over five years

1 2 3 4 5

People & Skills IRDF w/ IRAP

Post-ProjectHiring Promoscience+ Business

Skills

Relationshipbuilder

CapabilityProjects

InteractioncostsBuilding

Relationships

eBulletin Speed Dating

Staff Exchanges

(I)Concierge BIZPAL-i

Structural

Tech. Int’nCentres

EquipmentAccess SBIR

Tech. AccessCentres

Problem Posting

IPSME

LeverageProject Mgmt.

Costs

Market Studies

I2I+

Year

Vouchers

IRMFFocus on Priorities

Strategic Priorities

Note: Actions will be integrated with existing NSERC activities;

many into existing programs

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How well does the Strategy support the Original Goal?

“Connect”

(to industry)

“Apply”

Post-secondary capabilitiesE-bulletin

Capability projects

Relationship builder

Concierge

BIZPAL-I

Problem posting

Speed dating

Staff exchanges

Masters fellowships

IRF marketing w/ IRAP

Post project hiring

IP policy

SME leverage

Project mgmt. costs

Market studies

Business skills

Vouchers

I2I+

Technology Access Centres

Technology Integration Centres

Equipment Access

Strategic Priorities

Not central to “Connect” or “Apply”?• SBIR, PromoScience+

Not NSERC: Concierge, BIZPAL-I, Vouchers, SBIR

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The Strategy Also Supports other NSERC Goals

• (1) Fuel the advancement of knowledge in science and engineering and ensure that Canadian scientists and engineers are leaders and key players in a global knowledge community Strategic Priorities Initiative, Technology Integration Centres

• (3) Ensure that Canadian youth are exposed to activities that capture their imagination and generate curiosity and excitement about science, mathematics and technology. Promoscience+

• (5) Increasing Visibility of Research: Celebrate the accomplishments of Canadian natural sciences and engineering researchers and institutions, and increase their visibility in Canada and worldwide. eBulletin, Strategic Priorities Initiative

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Launch and Roll-out of the Strategy

• Launch the strategy (nationally & 5 regions) Launched in Vancouver on 11/24/09 then across country

• By March 31, 2010: Launch low-cost, obvious impact actions

• Modifications to programs & policies:– IP policy, project management, market studies

• Building relationships :– eBulletin, Interaction awards, Engage grants

Year 1 costs $1.2M (from RPP budget)• Subsequently:

2010-11: • Pilot of two new initiatives ($2M from RPP budget):

– Technology Access Centres, Relationship Builders• Launch Strategy Priorities Initiatives (if funded)

2011-12 and on:• Introduce other actions as resources permit

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What could the Strategy mean?

• By fiscal year 2014-2015: Industry invests an additional $250M/year (cash) in university

collaborations, leveraging support from NSERC Increase NSERC’s industry participation rate from 7% to 15% 1,400+ additional companies involved with colleges &

universities (yearly) The successful Collaborative Research & Development program

more than doubles• This will substantially improve Canada innovation

success: More successful company innovations More capable work force Stronger collaborations with post-secondary researchers

Level of impact depends on resources available

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Interaction & EngageGrant Programs

1. Purpose and Goals

2. Target Audience - Eligibility

3. Interaction Grant

4. Engage Grants

5. Allocation

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Purpose & Goals

How to contribute even more to make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of Canadians

20,000 R&D active companies,

majority <50 employees with lower R&D capacity

Only 2% active with NSERC-RPP

Huge potential for improvement creation of more partnerships,

foster more innovation,

create more wealth and well being through applications.

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Purpose & Goals

Consultation: complicated & process time, little or no R&D capacity, limited if no financial capacity, pressed by time, do not know whom to turn to.

Opportunity: create tailor made programs

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Purpose & Goals

Interaction and Engage grants…

fast and easy access: 3 and 4 to 6 weeks, two stage, two complementary purposes, no peer review, simplified application process, no industrial cash, IP belongs to the company NSERC Pacific and Prairies (RO) support

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Purpose & Goals

Interaction and Engage grants…

Spring board to subsequent collaboration other NSERC RPP grants, other granting agencies, private industry partnerships.

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Purpose & Goals

Interaction and Engage grants…

encourage new partners to collaborate Give a chance to get to know each other, Identify a company specific challenge, Explore a strategy to jointly solve it, Tryout a short collaboration, See what value was created, Decide whether to continue or not,

…in any possible way.

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Target Audience - Eligibility

No prior partnership R&D activity together

University researchers Eligible institutions, Demonstrated capacity to do research and manage

projects, Research setup available, Peer reviewed granting history (Form 100).

Already have, Create PDF or create an account.

Focus on individuals who can efficiently respond to company needs

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Target Audience - Eligibility

No prior partnership R&D activity together

Industrial partners Canadian base, Early stage, little or no R&D capacity yet, Clear intention to develop/implement the results, May need this opportunity to do so.

Caution: the criteria are broadened! => case by case Is there a business plan to develop the company? Is the company in a financing round? Have they apply for subsidies? What is the structure, who are the people? Etc.

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Interaction Grant

Timeline: maximum 3 months (extendable?)

Deliverable Up to $5,000 from the ROF, To cover for travel, accommodation and venue, For the applicant, UILO and/or company staff if justified.

Objective Allow academic researchers to meet with potential

industrial partners to discuss and identify a challenge specific to the company, that could be addressed by a subsequent R&D partnership.

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Interaction Grant

Selection criteria

Incrementality

create a new relationship with industrial partners likely to benefit from the applicant’s expertise to address a relevant industrial challenge,

Research competencethe applicant is NSERC-eligible, and must demonstrate past or current peer reviewed support for his/her research, by a recognized funding organization, either federal or provincial,

Industrial relevancethe proposal must identify potential companies, which are in a domain that is relevant to the applicant’s expertise.

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Engage Grant

Timeline: maximum 6 months

Deliverable Up to $25,000 from Ottawa, Direct cost of research,

HQP, User fees, equipment, consumable, publication, field travel,…

Objective Allow academic researchers to do the necessary

research to address the identified company specific problem.

Try out – see if it works – consider the value/pertinence of subsequent collaboration

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Engage Grant

Selection criteria Research expertise

Applicant and company staff must have all the expertise required to address the defined objectives and to complete the project,

Industrial relevancehow will the work benefit the company and how it will be

exploited within a reasonable time frame,

Creation of a new collaborative relationship

Contribution to technology transferhow the university research team and the company staff will ensure that the knowledge/technology is to be transferred effectively,

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Interact and Engage

• Quick Turnaround

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Initial Launch - Allocation

Interaction is not a prerequisite for Engage

Interaction can lead directly to another partnership

Interaction Engage

2009/10 Budget

73 @ $5K

$365,000

73 @ $25K

$1,825,000

Pacific

Prairies

11 @ $5K

$55,000

11 @ $5K

$55,000

11 @ $25K

$275,000

11 @ $25K

$275,000

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Interaction and Engage in BC and Prairies in 2009/10

• Solicit one of each from each (university) eligible institute

• Tight deadline – January 31, 2010• Second call, February 28, 2010 for any

unallocated awards • Goal – 22 of each supported as pilot in BC

and Prairies by March 31st

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Regional Opportunities Fund

• Typical funding requests for small to medium-size events and activities range from $1,000 to $5,000.

• provide opportunities for relationship building and research collaboration between industrial and post-secondary communities;

• promote participation in NSERC’s Research Partnership Programs or Industrial Scholarships and Fellowships.

• “COLLIDER”

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NSERC Pacific and Prairies Contacts

PacificManager Rick Warner 604-666-8811RIDO Pam Giberson 604-666-8815 CPO Megan Griffith 604-666-8814 AO Kathleen Lorenzo 604-666-8818

PrairiesManager Guy Levesque 204-984-6300 RIDO

Irene Mikawoz 204-984-0426 CPOFrank Nolan 204-984-6301

AO Roxanne Balcaen 204-984-6462

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DiscussionPlease direct all questions to

IreneThank You!