Terrific, thank you.
I am pleased to be here with you this afternoon.
I appreciate the invitation to be in front of this committee. As it's my first time in front of this committee since the election, let me congratulate each of you on your election to Parliament and your commitment to serving constituents and building a better Canada.
I am Paul Davidson, president of Universities Canada. We are the voice of Canada's 97 universities working together to advance higher education, research and innovation in Canada.
On their behalf, let me invite you to visit our campuses to see the phenomenal work being done by students, faculty, and researchers to give you a glimpse into Canada's future.
Today's subject is of vital concern to our members, and let me tell you why. Over 40% of all R and D in Canada happens at Canada's universities. This spans from fundamental research that spurs disruptive innovations and creates markets to applied research that innovates new products, processes, and services.
Over one million young Canadians are pursuing their first degree at our places of learning. The experiences they have will determine Canada's prosperity for decades to come.
Canada's universities are anchor institutions in communities right across the country, in communities large and small, and so we appreciate the opportunity to explore academic-industry collaboration and how it can be improved.
At the outset, let me say that budget 2016 contained many welcome measures that have a bearing on today's subject. The new post-secondary strategic investment fund will provide new investments in research infrastructure to promote innovation. The new investments in discovery research are the largest in a decade, and will let discovery lead, which in turn leads to innovation. Changes in student financial assistance will make post-secondary education more attainable. These measures, along with others, will contribute to economic growth and inclusion.
Today's universities may be different than when you were younger. Canada is now proud to have globally competitive research infrastructure, the results of investments that started being made in late 1990s, and the world is now coming to Canada to work with us. We have a new generation of faculty and researchers. Think of this: over 65% of our faculty have been hired in the last 15 years. This is a new generation of researchers with new experiences, new skills, and a commitment to collaboration, and they're among the world's best. Last year 24 Canadians won major international prizes—I'm thinking of Dr. Art McDonald and the Nobel Prize in Physics—and the world is noticing.
We have far more entrepreneurship and co-op opportunities on our campuses than ever before with entrepreneurship programs and resources for students and faculties, such as the new certificate in entrepreneurship, available to all students at SFU. From start-up incubators that launch students' inventions to help creating new companies, universities are fuelling the entrepreneurial spirit in today's students.
You may be surprised to know that over 55% of all undergraduates at universities today have some form of experiential education, and we're working with private sector leaders and our colleagues at this table to increase that further. University research and technology parks house nearly 1,500 companies employing about 65,000 people and generating $4.3 billion annually in GDP.
All that being said, we share your concern about the future of manufacturing in this country. Visiting communities like London, Windsor, and Hamilton, we can see that we all need to draw on our best efforts to create new opportunity. That's why studies like this are important. Universities provide a unique and vital role in the growth and sustainability of industrial clusters, networks, and manufacturing plants across the country. We do this as educators and research performers and also as innovation stimulators, entrepreneurship enablers, and global connectors for all types of industrial sectors.
I'll just give a couple of examples if I may, both in the field of advanced manufacturing. The first is the Centre for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy. It's an industrial-scale research and development lab at the University of Windsor. This facility produces world-class disruptive technology in battery-to-wheel research. The work enhances electrified vehicle technology and encourages knowledge, technology, and expertise to be transferred to industrial partners at globally competitive levels.
Universities also collaborate together and with industry to provide quick results to urgent manufacturing challenges, such as working to make electric and hybrid vehicles more common by lowering the production costs of rechargeable batteries. Watch this space in the next few weeks. For example, the engineers and scientists at Quebec-based Clariant, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Université de Montréal, and Western University, with support from CanmetMATERIALS in Hamilton, are testing new chemical processes that cut manufacturing costs in half, making electric vehicles both affordable for families and profitable for manufacturers.
My third example is the really impressive work that Siemens Canada is doing under the leadership of Bob Hardt, the CEO there. His partnership with McMaster, Mohawk, Waterloo, the University of Alberta, and NAIT is truly groundbreaking. Participating students receive exceptional training at Siemens, developing their professional skills as they work at the forefront of engineering innovation, and Siemens gets fresh talent and new ideas.
I am particularly fond of this example for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is an investment in young people and a commitment to them through the course of their studies. Second, it is an investment by private sector leaders in their future competitiveness.
The common thread in all these examples is finding ways to collaborate across business, governments, and post-secondary institutions of all kinds to draw on the unique abilities of each. How can we improve this dynamic? There are a couple of things I want to focus on. First, we need better two-way mobility or flow of talent. We are proud that more than half of all undergraduates at universities have some form of work experience in the course of their studies, but we simply don't have enough placements in the private sector. We need to work with employers, and especially with SMEs, to up their participation in taking that talent into their workplaces. That is why we join with the president and CEO of RBC, Dave McKay, in setting an ambitious goal of moving that 50% number to 100%.
His recent presentation to our members spoke of the compelling benefits of engaging students in the big challenges facing the future of banking. Earlier this week, we sent to each of your offices a short YouTube video of his remarks. I invite you to watch it. It is a five-minute highlight reel, and it is a very compelling presentation on the benefits of work-integrated learning.
We also need to find ways to increase business investment in research and development. As we look to the future and ways to drive sustained economic growth, a major concern is that from 2006 to 2013, our global ranking in business expenditures on R and D has decreased from 18th in the world to 26th. Previous studies, many of them, have suggested ways to reverse this worrying trend, and I commend those to you.
Let me close by suggesting a couple of rabbit holes to avoid. The first is to avoid the temptation to say that universities do only basic research. Universities conduct about $1 billion a year of research for the private sector, including many types of manufacturers, helping build their competitive advantage, and another $1 billion for the not-for-profit sector. Canada's universities are problem-solvers, working in your community every day.
Another one of those rabbit holes.... Please don't fall back on the framing that universities are slow and others are fast. Universities work on both very long time scales and very short ones. The work done by Dr. James Till and Dr. Ernest McCulloch at U of T on a summer Sunday in 1961 in discovering multipotent stem cells has led directly to the whole new field of regenerative medicine. If a government granting council insisted on immediate applicability, that work would never have been done, and the whole new sector that Toronto is enjoying right now would never have occurred.
At the other end of the time spectrum, consider Canada's response to the Ebola outbreak last year. Based on a deep understanding of the nature of the problem, Gary Kobinger and his team in Winnipeg were able to develop a vaccine that is 100% effective. The time to clinical trial was 10 months. Anyone who has been involved in the pharma industry knows that this is phenomenal speed. The trial proved 100% effective, and the vaccine is now known around the world as “the Canadian vaccine”. It is a triumph of collaboration across borders, disciplines, and sectors.
To further propel innovation and economic growth in Canada, all partners need to come to the table and commit to action.
Universities Canada will be engaging actively in the federal science, innovation and economic growth reviews to advance our vision for an innovative and inclusive Canada and talk about how Canada's universities can contribute solutions.
Higher education, government, and the private sector need to deepen their collaboration, be bold in their ambition, and do even more to connect people to ideas and better respond to the needs of our changing economy. When we combine talent development with entrepreneurial opportunity and cutting-edge research, we have what it takes to support manufacturing to achieve real change.
Thank you.