Thank you very much, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to testify today.
My name is Mike McDonald. I'm vice-president of external and member relations at Colleges and Institutes Canada, or CICan.
CICan is the national and international voice of Canada’s publicly supported colleges, institutes, CEGEPs, polytechnics, and indigenous learning institutions.
I am here today to deliver a key message: To ensure that Canada's defence research investments realize their full potential, the government will need to take full advantage of colleges and the applied research system, seeing them as crucial partners.
Realizing the full ambition of the defence industrial strategy and other defence investments will require the federal government to more strategically engage partners equipped to address the persistent gaps in Canada's innovation performance, including low business investment in R and D and lagging technology adoption.
With proven expertise in industry-driven, impact-oriented, place-based training and research, colleges are national leaders in preparing talent for high-demand technical roles and supporting business innovation and technology adoption, including in defence-relevant sectors such as AI, aerospace and marine engineering.
Already, according to Statistics Canada, 94% of colleges conduct R and D in emerging technology areas with potential for dual-use applications. Examples include the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's centre for innovation and research in unmanned systems, Red River College Polytechnic's aerospace and manufacturing technology access centre, Durham College's AI hub, Cégep de Trois-Rivierès' telecommunications and research centre and Nova Scotia Community College's marine engineering facilities.
Through nearly 500 state-of-the-art research centres and labs nationwide, including in northern and Arctic regions, college research supports close to 9,000 partnerships annually, most of them with Canadian SMEs to test, prototype, adopt and scale new technologies. This focus will be vital for turning defence innovations into new products and, conversely, ensuring that new technologies can be harnessed to defend Canada.
Colleges' agile research model, which is driven by industry needs and allows partners to retain intellectual property, attracts nearly one dollar in private investment for every dollar of federal funding in applied research.
Moreover, by engaging students in applied research projects and delivering skills-focused training, colleges are the front lines of ensuring that we have a steady pipeline of talent equipped to meet the evolving needs of the Canadian Armed Forces in the defence industries.
In other words, college research provides the very expertise a thriving defence sector needs, as well as skills training, business innovation and technology adoption.
Nevertheless, federal programs geared towards defence research do not provide colleges with a clear pathway or full access to support applied research in the defence sector. For example, the innovation for defence excellence and security program prevents colleges from leading projects under the innovation networks stream or partnering on such projects. In addition, the costs to meet research security requirements associated with defence research programs are rising.
To address these challenges and ensure that college research capacity is fully leveraged in support of the defence industrial strategy and other investments, CICan is proposing the following four recommendations.
Ensure the full eligibility of colleges in federal research funding programs, including programs administered by DND.
Invest in an applied research technology adoption stream within the bureau of research, engineering and advanced leadership in innovation and science, and make colleges fully eligible for that.
Establish a defence-readiness and onboarding pathway stream under the National Research Council's IRAP defence industry assist program to support industry partnerships with post-secondary institutions to help SMEs integrate and strengthen defence supply chains.
Provide post-secondary institutions, including colleges, with adequate funding to meet the research security requirements associated with defence research.
Thank you. I would be happy to answer the committee's questions.