There are always ways of improving commercialization activities. The granting councils — in particular, NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC — emphasize this aspect. They work closely to improve the focus of some of the technologies that we develop, and to help the people who are the driving force behind these initiatives. I believe some of my colleagues alluded to this earlier.
No only does technology transfer involve technology, above all it involves people. One of the areas we need to focus on more in Canada is the training of persons in the area of commercialization. As a granting agency, we provide support for the development of innovative scientific skills but quite often, what is lacking in Canada is commercialization and marketing expertise. This is a weakness that we are working hard to overcome. In a recent evaluation of the NCE program, we recommended among other things that an effort be made in this regard and we plan on following through with this.