First of all, we're looking at this program with our colleagues at ISED and NRC. We've been examining the benefits and the opportunities, and that work continues. I think it's fair to say that as we look forward, we are looking at ways and considering options. For example, in the American model, as they evolve it through phase one and phase two, next year they'll probably spend somewhere around $3 billion in this program. They're constantly measuring their results to make sure it's valid.
They had to go back to Congress in 2010. It had been a long time since they had been reviewed, and when they went back to Congress, because of the detailed analytics they had done, Congress not only said they would recapitalize the program but directed them to get more money. Clearly, they see a lot of benefits.
The opportunity coming out of that from phase one to phase two is around the pre-commercial point, and of course, as you talked about, in Canada and the United States it's what they call the valley of death between the R and D investment and bringing it to market. This is where venture capitalists and angel investors see high risk and are looking for something that is truly marketable and ready to go forward.
The Americans have produced a program by leveraging their public procurement to achieve this kind of R and D investment, and a key characteristic of this requirement is that it must have a commercial component. In other words, it can't just be pure R and D. It must be able to move forward.