Thanks, Joël.
Thanks for your presentations.
We could have a long conversation about basic research, but I just want to talk about commercialization. In the “What We Heard Report”, they note that “Canada has a history of producing excellent research that often does not get commercialized.” That doesn't only apply to quantum; that applies across the board, unfortunately.
In the quantum space, we see a few different kinds of investments. We see from the NRC these challenges, obviously identifying mission-driven priorities and saying that any companies can compete for this. But in other contexts, we have large public funding for specific organizations. We saw $40 million, for example, for D-Wave in March 2021.
In the “What We Heard Report”, there's an acknowledgement that “there was consensus that government should remain inclusive and not pick winners at this time, as quantum is a developing sector.” That seems right. They note that “At some point, Canada will need to make a strategic decision whether to support a few large players or projects, or many small ones.”
Given that money is being rolled out the door already as part of the $360 million, what's the answer to that question?