I don't think it would compete at all. All our universities compete for funding from the national granting councils and have had great success doing so. That's based on the quality of their work and their competitiveness. What we're proposing is to build on something that already exists, which is the Atlantic Innovation Fund. That's a fund the federal government created and has funded for a number of years quite successfully. What we're talking about is taking that concept and building on it in perhaps a more specific way so that universities and university-led research initiatives would play a central role. But it's not all about universities. It's all about our ability to partner successfully with business to ensure that we are improving productivity and improving competitiveness in the region.
On November 5th, 2009. See this statement in context.