Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As president of the University of Calgary and vice-chair of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, I'd like to thank the committee for its invitation to participate in its pre-budget hearings.
The U15 is an association of 15 of Canada's top research-intensive universities, focused on advancing research and innovation at Canadian universities. From Dalhousie to UBC, we include institutions from coast to coast. U15 universities conduct $5.3 billion worth of research each year, $1.5 billion of which is privately funded. They account for 87% of all contracted private sector research in Canada and hold 80% of Canadian university patents and start-ups. They are home to 47% of Canadian university students and 71% of full-time doctoral students.
The talented and creative people who teach, learn, and conduct research at our universities are the foundation of our nation's research and development capacity. They inspire the innovations that offer enterprises crucial advantages, create new businesses, strengthen health outcomes, enhance security, and ultimately drive the social, economic, and cultural development of our country. The federal government understands and supports this, as demonstrated in the vision articulated in its white paper, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage, and its commitment in last month's throne speech to “continue making targeted investments in science and innovation”, as well as the ones in 2011 and before.
Even with the recent economic downturn, the government has worked to preserve the research base that is so integral to Canada's innovation ecosystem, continuing to make targeted investments in key programs. Yet despite these investments, Canada faces growing challenges as our international competitors, both advanced and emerging economies alike, seek to secure advantage by focusing resources and introducing programs that enhance the ability of their universities to compete among the global best for the most talented faculty and students, for the most important research projects, and the most prized and profitable partnerships. It is in this context of heightened international competition that we are proposing the Advantage Canada Research Excellence—or ACRE—fund.
ACRE will add to the strong foundation for research already established in Canada. It is based on measurable excellence as judged by rigorous peer review through the Tri-Councils. It builds strategically on existing programming, supporting the best of Canada's research talent, scholarship, and innovation.
The ACRE fund will support the global positioning of Canadian universities as preferred partners for the best international research universities. It will improve partnerships with industry to create research industry clusters, attract and retain the best talent from around the world, stimulate the rate of ground-breaking discoveries, and enhance our international competitiveness. The government has stated that its support of research excellence and innovation is a means of advancing our social and economic goals, domestically and abroad. We firmly agree.
Central to the ACRE proposal are the established principles of excellence and inclusion. All Canadian universities that meet this standard based on measurable excellence, as judged by independent peer review, and are currently employed as a hallmark approach that is the Tri-Council programs, will be eligible to be benefiting from the fund.
Success under the ACRE fund will also be measured on excellence. This includes universities' abilities to attract research funding from international public and private sources; increases in a number of international research partnerships; improvements in Canada's international standings; the attraction of new, highly qualified people; and improved knowledge translation and commercialization. Each university will be accountable through straightforward framework agreements with the government.
We propose that the government implement ACRE over multi-year timeframes, starting with an initial investment of $100 million of new money, gradually increasing over four years to $400 million annually, as fiscal capacity allows. Through previous investments, Canada has established a strong research foundation on which to build. We believe ACRE will be a game-changer for the country, and we fully support its focus on excellence.
Thank you for your time. I'd be happy to answer any questions.