Evidence of meeting #26 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vehicle.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
Since 2001...first of all, I would be quite happy to provide you with a detailed report.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Please do, but please give just a quick report on the innovations that you have produced with that money.
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
Sure. They would range across the full spectrum of the automotive value chain: improved alloys of aluminum; better metal casting performance for cylinder heads made in Windsor, Ontario, and for wheels made in British Columbia; improved metal forming for metal stamping done throughout the automotive value chain; better analysis capabilities.
When you stamp a piece of metal, you want the metal to be as strong as possible. The problem is if it's too strong, you can't stamp it into the correct shape, so we've worked out methods of stamping higher-strength alloys of steel.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Could you provide us with a table that lists all the technologies that your organization has helped develop since 2000, the precise role that your organization played in the development of that technology, and where that technology is now employed?
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
Yes, we can provide that.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Add to that the clek booster seat. I have one in my car.
Has the focus of your research and development changed since your inception in 2001? What factors are changing what you're researching?
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
AUTO21 is organized around six research theme areas: health and safety; social issues; materials and manufacturing; powertrains, fuels, and emissions; design processes; and intelligent systems and sensors.
Within each of those areas are a number of projects.
As I said, when we started, electric vehicles were not a key factor. A lot of work was being done in fuel cells. To be candid, fuel cells have diminished in importance and their overall viability for automotive applications is now, I would say, in some doubt.
Battery performance has improved to the extent that battery vehicles are now a viable alternative. A huge amount of work is still to be done, so our work is now focusing on battery vehicles.
We also do a lot of work on biofuels, and AUTO21 was probably the first organization in North America, certainly in Canada, to support research into biobased plastics, a lot of which is being done in the province of Quebec and with researchers in the wheat belt area of Canada as well as in southern Ontario.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
With regard to the electric car, GM sold about 8,000 Chevrolet Volts last year, promising they would deliver 20,000 in sales. This year they're promising 100,000 in sales. How realistic is it to expect an electric car that can replace the full capabilities of a gas-powered car? How far off are we?
Second, if you can estimate, how much research and development investment between here and there is expected?
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
At present, I would say that none of the products on the market can replace a full-up family vehicle. They tend—
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
None of those cars will carry six children. I would say we're not quite there yet. There are significant issues around range as well as cost.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
How far away are we—10 years, 15 years? How many billions in R and D between here and there?
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
I couldn't estimate that number, Mr. Watson, but it would be significant, and in terms of years, it could be significant.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
What are Canada's rankings for both public and private R and D, roughly? You can ballpark it.
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
I would guess that on a per capita basis, we're probably something like second or third in the world in public sector support of R and D. Private sector investment in R and D is significantly lower. I would guess somewhere below 15th.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Automotive Partnership Canada was created to bring the granting councils together to try to put some more money behind R and D. To this point, I think the most significant project is a hybrid motorcycle, which to me seems a novelty item, if you will. I'm not sure if that's the right priority.
How do we get companies to invest more in private research and development? I imagine their priorities may be a little different sometimes from what we think are the important projects.
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
That's a really difficult issue.
We in AUTO21 are continuously oversubscribed. Typically, we turn down about 75% of the projects that are proposed to us. It has to be said that some of those projects would not be eligible for our funding because they don't have industrial partners, but most of them do.
There's nothing wrong with being oversubscribed. That just shows you have a good idea.
Conservative
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
It is typically between $100,000 and $200,000 per year, and a large part of our funding goes toward the training of students. That's part of our mandate.
I think that brings up another difficulty. I think there are some difficulties with Canadian program design, if I may say so, so we always attach a training component to every R and D project.
I think it's good to train people and that it's important for the future of our country, but if the goal of a given program is to improve the competitiveness of companies, then I think that's what the program should do.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
How does our intellectual property patent process stack up against other countries in the world in terms of commercialization and encouraging companies to go down the road of innovation?
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
Our IP policies in public sector science in Canada are not competitive.
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Auto21 Inc.
They need to be simplified and harmonized so that the same regime applies across the country.
As I said earlier, universities don't make cars, so I don't see the great benefit in people trying to own a lot of IP. In AUTO21 we put the IP as much as possible into the hands of the knowledge receptor as quickly as possible.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
In your opinion, what's the largest single driver or focus of Canadian research and development today? In previous panels there was the question of climate change or the policy objectives of government. Do they distort where private research and development would otherwise go, or is government on board with where private R and D is going? What's the interplay there?