By current standards, collaborative applied R and D doesn't always count, yet by global standards, it is excellence. That's exactly what Canada's technology access centres deliver every day, using specialized equipment and smart people to solve a company's innovation challenge, scaling it up to commercialization and helping Canadian firms win export markets, create good jobs and grow wealth here at home—but our beautiful model doesn't fit neatly into the 1990s-style funding programs.
Now, I'm not asking to open up the granting council programs to allow colleges to participate or to revise the evaluation criteria to benefit colleges and our distinct way of doing things, or even to stack review committees with our people. I'm asking for a dedicated program within Industry Canada, outside the granting councils, that recognizes applied excellence and adequately supports collaborative industrial R and D at the speed of business.
This doesn't require more bureaucracy, just smarter plumbing: fewer portals, shorter forms, faster decisions and basic outcome tracking. We have a proven model with Canada's technology access centres. What we need now, in light of our lagging productivity and competitiveness while our global rivals are moving faster, is the right support, and to scale it so that Canadian innovators can compete and win.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.