Industry committee  Let me phrase my question slightly differently. Should the government provide funding for small businesses to secure their IP with the hope of actually getting that money back once they've taken that IP and developed their business?

Industry committee  To develop the IP, if you have to patent it, it's tens of thousands of dollars. For a small business that could be quite difficult.

Industry committee  Okay. Let's go to the nuclear side of things. There are disruptive technologies coming along, such as thorium salt reactors. What are your comments about that in terms of the nuclear industry and power generation?

Industry committee  I agree fully with that, but the question is how this government can help small businesses make sure they secure the IP that will allow them to actually get to the next level of growing their businesses, getting more jobs, doing all the things that would make that possible.

Industry committee  Thank you, Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for being here. It's certainly been a very interesting discussion. I'd like to pick up on one of the points that I think some of you have already raised. It's to do with small businesses and IP. I think we've invested a lot of money i

Industry committee  Thank you. Madam Gagné, do you have any comments?

Industry committee  IBM is unique in the sense that they actually invest so much back into research and development in their own company.

Industry committee  That's not the case in many other companies, frankly.

Industry committee  Madam Dubé, do you have any comments?

Industry committee  Thank you. Dr. Sullivan, do you have any comments?

Industry committee  Thank you, witnesses, for being here. Mine is probably a little bit of a weird question. Madame Dubé, you talked about the social need, and as a government we need to look forward and see what's happening, and we have all these disruptive technologies. Where do you think our soc

Industry committee  I'm reading between the lines in saying to you that people are not the problem. You can get enough people to grow your businesses with these disruptive technologies, with the right sorts of skills that you need.

Industry committee  I've gone beyond that. This is now your business.

Industry committee  When we look at these disruptive technologies, it's always looking back. They've already been successful. You have a successful company. Various nanomaterial products and services are now coming and are under way. Looking to the future, what do you think the next disruptive techn

Industry committee  Thank you, folks, for being here. I'm going to take a slightly different tack. Obviously disruptive technologies is a wonderful area in which we can grow our economy and grow our processes and technologies, etc. It's also at the leading edge. When you have some of these technolo