Who here knows about College Centres for Technology Transfer and Innovative Social Practices, or CCTTs? Raise your hand.
Unfortunately, I don't see many hands raised. That's normal, but it's also sad, because, according to the very same SMEs who are its main clients, CCTTs are a hidden gem.
Madam Chair, members of the committee, I will introduce myself: my name is Marie Gagné, president and chief executive officer of Synchronex, which is the network of 59 CCTTs in Quebec.
Let's come back to our initial question: what is a CCTT? CCTTs are college-affiliated research and innovation centres, and their clients are SMEs and organizations. The purpose of a CCTT is to meet a client's need to use or commercialize a new product, process or procedure. SMEs don't want to do research, and I would say that CCTTs don't want to do research either. They want to solve a problem, improve a process or develop a new product to be more competitive, more inclusive and more environmentally friendly, and applied research is the tool they use to do that.
I'll give you two examples. The first is a CCTT, the Innovative Vehicle Institute, in the Laurentians, working with Lion Electric to design the first fully electric school bus, helping Lion Electric to position itself as a North American leader.
Another CCTT, the National Centre in Environmental Technology and Electrochemistry, in Mauricie, has been working with Bio‑K+ for over 26 years in the development of probiotics so that Bio‑K+ could position itself as a leader in its field. It remains so today by distributing its products in Canada, the United States, Germany and China.
Why do CCTTs exist? The first CCTT was established 40 years ago in response to Bombardier's need for access to scientific and technical resources in Quebec's Lower St. Lawrence region. To differentiate itself, Bombardier needed access to applied research specialists to assist in the development of new products and processes. The collaborative effort worked so well that since then, 58 CCTTs have been established, bringing the total number of CCTTs in Quebec to 59.
Currently, 2,000 CCTT experts work with 6,000 companies on 10,000 innovation projects every year. Yes, to try it is to buy it. We have an annual budget of $150 million, 50% of which comes from clients, 30% from the government of Quebec and 20% from the Government of Canada. Each CCTT specializes in a relevant area based on its location, but also has a mandate to cover the whole territory.
CCTTs specialize in cybersecurity, civil security, emergency response, aerospace, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, clean energy, innovative vehicles, agriculture, food self-sufficiency, metallurgy, etc. As for societal issues, they also specialize in immigrant integration, indigenous issues, disability integration, gerontology, education, etc.
Moreover, CCTTs take an active role in developing a more innovative workforce by integrating students into their projects, which created a workforce that is more aware of the latest technologies and most innovative techniques.
Applied research is just as necessary as basic research. There is a real need to maintain a balance between the two types of research, to ensure that knowledge can be turned into collective wealth. To maintain the quality of life of Canadians, we must maintain and even increase Canada's international competitiveness. We must also adapt our technologies and practices to build a Canada that is more sustainable and respectful of its diversity and history.
Colleges, including CCTTs, by virtue of their applied research offerings and proximity to their regions and sectors, have an important and strategic role to play. Ninety-five per cent of the Canadian population lives within 50 kilometres of a college. This means that college research centres are key players in helping SMEs innovate more, as well as helping communities solve societal issues.
The CCTT model has had such a significant effect on socioeconomic development that, in 2010, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSERC, decided to create similar centres affiliated with colleges and institutes across Canada: Technology Access Centres, or TACs.
Today, we believe that it is important to increase NSERC's core funding for applied college research.
A minimum of 225 TACs needs to be recognized, as initially planned for by NSERC, including the 59 CCTTs in Quebec. Each of them must be granted recurring annual funding of $350,000.
There needs to be an understanding that college research expertise operates in a self‑funding system—