Madam Chair, thank you for the invitation to speak to the committee.
Science and innovation are essential elements of the nature of war today. As it was made clear on the battlefields in Ukraine, the Middle East as well as potential ones in the Asia-Pacific region, the ability for a modern military to exploit technological advantages and to bring them into service rapidly can have a dramatic impact on operational outcomes.
Canada has had a strong legacy of scientific endeavours. This was particularly apparent after the Second World War, but its ability to effectively harness that capacity for the benefit of the Canadian Armed Forces has been much more limited.
Omond Solandt, the first chair of the defence research board, the predecessor to DRDC, made an observation after his time in office: Canada has never had an overall policy for the evolution of science and technology. From time to time, we have identified problems in this field and have tried to fix them, usually unsuccessfully because it was generally not understood that there were no quick fixes. A science and technology capability has to be grown and built over time, and shaped to a set of national goals.
Solandt's observation is just as apt today, especially in light of the current government's recent reforms and initiatives in this area. These include increased funding and new organizations, such as BOREALIS, which are to herald a new working relationship between the Department of National Defence and scientific centres around this country. However, to Solandt's point, most of these policies will not effectively address some of the underlying systemic problems. Much of the current effort simply relies on existing scientific capacities, which generally have a poor compatibility with the overall military innovations and procurement system.
While I think renewed focus is certainly welcome, there are real challenges that will limit the effectiveness. These challenges are not unique to Canada, either. Many of our allies struggle with them on a day-to-day basis. The challenges cover a wide range of topics. There are far too many to address in these opening remarks.
I'd like to cede the rest of my time to the members so that they may ask specific questions on avenues they may have interests in.
Thank you very much.