Thank you to the members for your vote of confidence.
Thanks to Mr. Lobb for testing the waters. It's always good to have a democratic process in these types of things.
I'm looking forward to serving as your chair. Of course, I'm filling some pretty big shoes, with Kirsty Duncan having stepped down for health reasons.
Thank you to Mr. Tochor for all of the good work that you've done in keeping the meetings going on time.
I've been reading the testimonies and the questions. It looks like an excellent committee with great questions going around the table. I look forward to hearing more of those today.
For now, I'm just going to suspend for a couple of seconds. We have a second witness who has just showed up and we'll be doing some sound checks. Give us a second or two.
Now we'll get started with the meeting. Thank you for your patience. We're starting a few minutes late.
I want to welcome you all to meeting number 39 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research.
Today we're continuing our study on the support for commercialization of intellectual property.
I'd like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and for the members here.
Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on your microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute yourself when you're not speaking.
There is interpretation for those on Zoom. You do have a choice at the bottom of your screen for either floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.
I'll give a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair. For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. On Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. We'll be watching for that.
The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.
In accordance with our routine motion, I'm informing the committee that all witnesses have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting.
Now I'd like to welcome our witnesses. We'll be hearing from two witnesses this morning: Alain Francq, who is the director of innovation and technology for the Conference Board of Canada, and Andrew Greer, who is the managing director of Purppl.
We'll start off with Alain Francq for five minutes. Alain, the floor is yours.