Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I will be making my presentation in English, but I would be delighted to answer questions in both official languages.
Genomics refers to both the science and the technology that helps us decode life based on the genetic information of all living things. This relatively young science is extremely powerful. It is already helping to save lives and combat disease, improve food safety and production to feed the world's growing population, and protect our natural resources from the effects of climate change, invasive species, and other threats. Moreover, the OECD predicts that the growing genomics-enabled bio-economy will represent over $1 trillion by the year 2030.
Genome Canada is an independent, not-for-profit organization. We invest in large-scale genomics research projects and promote their applications to create economic wealth and social benefit for Canadians. Since 2000 the Government of Canada has committed $1 billion to our mandate, and we have succeeded in leveraging this investment to secure another $1 billion and more co-funding over the same period to support our programs. We work in close partnership with six regional genome centres and with the federal and provincial governments, academia, not-for-profits, and industry.
Part of our mandate is to provide leading-edge technologies to all Canadian researchers. Our investments have generated more than 10,000 highly skilled full-time jobs in Canada. We've created or enhanced 24 biotechnology companies, patented more than 250 inventions, and licensed many of these to the private sector.
The projects we support cover the entire spectrum of research, from discovery to applied, and our programs promote the translation of new knowledge into commercial opportunities, new technologies, applications, and solutions in key sectors of the economy, including health, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, environment, energy, and mining.
In all of our work we make it a priority to consider the economic, ethical, environmental, legal, social, and other challenges and opportunities related to genomics. We do this to help policy-makers, the public, and others understand the broader impacts of the science to accelerate its acceptance and the uptake of innovations into society.
The power and promise of genomics is accelerating. The cost of DNA sequencing of a whole human genome is one millionth of what it was 10 years ago, and the time to do this has gone from years to just a few days. Genomics is making knowledge of the biological basis of life so accessible that many sectors are embracing it, and the results are transforming our industries and society at large.
For instance, in the agrifood sector, genomics is making food safer and more secure, and improving agricultural productivity with heartier, more nutritional crops and improved livestock herds. In forestry, genomics is helping to protect against pest infestation, improving wood quality and growth rates, and helping to expand the sector from traditional pulp, paper, and lumber to include higher value-added forest products.
Genomics is driving a more evidence-based, cost-effective health care system. We are expecting major breakthroughs over the next few years related to epilepsy, autism, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disease and stroke, cancer, rare genetic disease, and many inflammatory conditions.
Canada is beautifully positioned to reap the benefits of this new technology, notably because of the world-class research capacity and technology that has been created here over the past decade through sustained and focused federal investments. We were very pleased, therefore, to see the government's ongoing commitment to Genome Canada with the allocation of a further $165 million announced in the 2013 budget to support our multi-year strategic plan.
With this new funding we will enhance our partnership activities and connect ideas and people across the public and private sectors to find new users and applications for genomics. We will attract greater investment in genomics research from a broad range of stakeholders, in particular, the private sector. We plan to leverage the $165 million to enable more than $440 million to be invested in Genome Canada programs over the next few years. We will continue to invest in large-scale science and technology to fuel innovation, and we will translate discoveries into applications to maximize impact across all sectors.
Canada's future in genomics is bright.
Genome Canada would like to thank the committee members for your time and consideration.