with the goal of making itself into a science and technology superpower by 2030. The package includes £50-million for “co-investments” – government partnerships with private business to encourage domestic investment in science and tech. When geo-political considerations have meant that some foreign investments in research at Canadian universities may pose a national-security risk, this is the one way to ensure that those lines of research continue.
. SR&ED is a tax incentive worth close to $4-billion annually. It has been a bedrock public-policy tool for encouraging private-sector innovation in Canada since 1944 and it’s in desperate need of modernization. One simple change would be to deem costs associated with filing IP as eligible for SR&ED.
Canadian companies, particularly small and medium-sized ones, should also be better incentivized to hire Canadian talent emerging from postsecondary institutions, such as co-op students.is already successful. Let’s invest further to help more businesses hire young, digitally fluent workers who have grown up immersed in technology.
Samsung’s work with South Korean universities is oft cited, and for good reason. In the spring of this year, the companywith three leading postsecondary institutions with the goal of nurturing talent in the semi-conductor space through a new five-year program that integrates graduate and undergraduate students and offers them industry-specific academic training and internship opportunities.
Building such relationships with the private sector requires capacity in academic institutions. Enhanced funding through the federal government’s Research Support Fund would allow for greater support of industry partnerships.