Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Members of the Standing Committee on Science and Research, thank you for inviting me to speak as part of your study on the impact of the criteria for awarding federal funding on research excellence in Canada.
My name is Alison Evans. I am the CEO of Research Canada, which is an alliance for health discovery and innovation. Our 130-plus members include hospital research institutes, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, med-tech and AI start-ups, post-secondary institutions, provincial health organizations and health charities. Through Research Canada, we work together and with national partners, stakeholders and governments on shared interests. They include the vision of a vibrant, productive, world-leading health research and innovation system, one where better outcomes are pursued by teams in hospital research institutes and corporate and academic labs and through clinical trials and at the bedside. Such a system is critical if we are going to address the declining health and wealth of Canadians and reassert this country on the global stage.
Our most complex societal challenges increasingly require novel solutions and approaches that bring together many perspectives from diverse domains. Research is more international, collaborative and interdisciplinary. We need to respond by continually improving a research support system that exemplifies excellence and integrity; fosters collaboration amongst researchers and entrepreneurs and institutions and companies; strengthens our ability and capacity to respond to health, environment, economic, demographic, energy, technology and other opportunities and challenges; helps us attract, support and retain top talent; recognizes that knowledge is created by investigator-initiated research today and that this same research will help us drive the mission-driven needs of tomorrow; and takes calculated risks and uses evidence to inform continuous improvement.
We welcome this timely dialogue on how we fund research and today’s conversation about research excellence in all its forms. Of course, it's a broad term, and thus necessitates comprehensive and continual consideration. It encompasses how research is designed, conducted, assessed, funded and used. It's context-specific, and acknowledges that flexible, tailored approaches are required. It adjusts as new evidence comes to light and as science and society evolve.
In Canada, upholding research excellence is an aspiration and responsibility held by many federal granting agencies and other funders. Using independent, competitive, structured merit review processes guides the decision-making. In the case of health, these processes help strengthen our entire “research to impact” pipeline, from discovery, applied, mission-driven and translational research to the study of health care delivery itself; to the implementation of novel and life-saving treatments and processes, including AI, into the health care system; and to our preparedness for future pandemics and other health emergencies.
We're fortunate in Canada to have many who protect and promote research excellence for which Canada is globally renowned. Through the work of the advisory panel on federal research support and those that came before them—granting agencies, governments, other funders and countless stakeholders—we are collectively trying to seize the moment that's before us to modernize our research and innovation system to ensure greater agility, responsiveness and impact for all.
In this changing world, unfortunately, Canada is falling behind. Talent, innovation and competitive gaps are widening between Canada and other advanced economies. Our declining health, prosperity and quality of life must be addressed in new ways. We must use long-standing strengths and our growing prominence in areas like AI, clean energy, biotech and life sciences; our highly educated population; and our approaches to excellence to reassert ourselves globally and drive economic growth, prosperity, job creation and outcomes that matter for all Canadians.
I would be pleased to discuss this further.
I'm now ready to take questions from the committee members.