There was some good discussion of this in the context of the last budget, but maybe to paraphrase a little bit on the rationale, the evidence is pretty clear that Canada does a really good job of generating ideas, but there have been difficulties in translating really good ideas and intellectual property into the Canadian business sector. There have been some interesting examples internationally, such as in Israel. Scandinavian companies have been successful at this, at having state-supported enterprises that work with businesses to support them in adopting technology and integrating new ideas and intellectual property into their businesses.
The thinking is to draw from these examples internationally and in the unique Canadian context. That's the genesis of the innovation and investment agency.
My understanding is that more information will be made public shortly. We've been working very closely with the Department of Finance on the design of this new organization, and we're very hopeful that we will be able to talk in more detail about that shortly, once the government makes known the details of its plans on the next steps.