Thank you.
I'm pleased to have this opportunity to speak to this House of Commons committee this evening.
Ms. Duncan, it's great to see you again.
The University of Calgary is a place to start something—a new research project, a new business, a new movement to improve the world—but at the heart of anything new are the people who start it, our talent. That is why I'm so pleased to be with you today to talk about the role our federal government can play in fostering talent retention, research and innovation.
I believe there are three things our federal government could do to really make a difference. First, increase support to top students. Second, invest more in the federal research chairs program. Third, expand targeted federal investments for innovation supports for universities to catalyze private sector collaboration.
I want to explain why these investments are so important through an example. For many years, the University of Calgary has been growing its expertise in quantum science. Quantum science isn't just fascinating research; it has real-life application for Canadians and is expected to contribute $142 billion in revenues and 229,000 jobs by 2040. The jobs are across all sectors—health, finance, agriculture, energy, transportation and logistics.
In 2021 the University of Calgary successfully attracted a global computer giant, Mphasis, to establish its Canadian headquarters in Calgary. Mphasis decided to partner with the University of Calgary for three reasons—first, our excellence in quantum research; second, our ability to generate job-ready talent; and third, the potential to be part of a quantum ecosystem with post-secondaries and quantum company start-ups. As part of the deal, Mphasis will immediately create 1,000 jobs in Calgary and invest in 1,000 work-integrated learning opportunities for students.
In short, this is exactly what universities across Canada can and should be doing to attract and retain talent, both researchers and students. The challenge is that for every one Mphasis, there are many more that could happen if we made bigger and better investments in retaining research and student talent and if universities had the resources to create and pursue these kinds of partnerships in a systematic way.
How, then, do we make more success stories like Mphasis happen with universities across the country? First, the federal government can invest to improve the recruitment and retention of top graduate students and trainees. Companies like Mphasis are looking for access to top talent. They're looking for universities and colleges to provide it. Research universities create a great student experience, and 94% of University of Calgary undergraduate students get jobs within six months of graduation. We're great at creating talent, but as a country we need more of it. To do that, we need to expand the number of tri-agency training awards to ensure that top talent doesn't leave Canada and we need to increase the value of these awards to make them competitive.
We can also do better at attracting top international students and post-docs to come to Canada. Investments to increase the number and value of awards such as the Vanier graduate scholarships and the Banting post-doctoral fellowships would support both domestic talent retention and international talent recruitment, with significant long-term benefits for Canada's innovation and productivity.
Second, Canada needs to improve federal funding programs to attract research talent. Mphasis partnered with the University of Calgary because we had some of the world's top researchers, but we need to be able to keep developing and retaining those researchers. The Canada research chairs program is a key program for post-secondary institutions in attracting and retaining top talent. The prestige of a CRC is attractive, but the funding levels have not changed in many years, making them less effective as a talent attraction tool.
The Canada excellence research chairs also attract top talent. CRCs and CERCs have far-reaching impacts. They attract high-quality trainees, undergraduate and graduate students and post-docs to contribute to Canada's talent pool. Additional investments to grow the number of CRCs and CERCs and increase the value of CRCs would support talent attraction and retention. Imagine if we created new funding streams for early career researchers that would renew and refresh university faculty with world-leading researchers.
Finally, Canada needs a coordinated strategic approach to driving partnerships, innovation and commercialization between Canada's universities and the private sector to attract top talent involvement. Canada was able to build a great partnership with Mphasis. The University of Calgary is number one in Canada for start-up creation, and has created a rich innovation ecosystem that supports industry collaboration, new entrepreneurial ventures and bringing research to market, but we can't scale this kind of potential without support, and neither can other universities across the country. Unlike other jurisdictions around the world, Canada does not have a coordinated national approach to stimulating and supporting university partnerships with industry.
Additional targeted funding in federal investments for proven innovation supports for universities would help to expand the breadth and depth of partnership, thereby engaging more researchers, students and industries. In short, these investments would make success stories like Mphasis the norm.
The competitiveness of Canada's economy and our future prosperity depend on retaining top talent and translating research into commercial opportunities. Strategic investments in Canada's universities will attract and retain world-class researchers with wide-scale benefits for Canadian businesses and society. Talent is the magnet that Canada can use to attract global investment and companies. I think that's what we all want.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for the opportunity to present my ideas today.