Industry committee  The first step is to harmonize our regime with the European and U.S. regimes. I'm no expert on how the Asians operate, but I believe theirs is a more heterogeneous model. That step really comes second in my eyes. I would like to come back to your first question on investments by major pharmaceutical companies in Canada.

Industry committee  Thank you. This is a great question. I think that patents are not an end in themselves. Using patents as a measure of success of how we're doing in terms of commercializing research is not a good measure. As some people have already said, you can file a lot of patents, but if they just sit on the shelf, they're of no good to anyone.

Industry committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. I am going to give my presentation in English, but I would be pleased to answer any questions in French, if you like. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of Genome Canada, I'm pleased to tell you about our priorities and activities and offer some thoughts on Canada's intellectual property regime, especially in regard to the field of genomics-based research, development, and commercialization.

Finance committee  Thanks for that question. This multi-year funding business is becoming critical. The reason, really, is all about strategy. We cannot be strategic with year-to-year funding. In fact we've driven some of the public-private partnerships in the research area, and we cannot build strategic partnerships with the private sector if they don't know we're going to be there in two or three years.

Finance committee  Of course we would. However, we specialize in various aspects of genomics. That is our strength. There are other stakeholders in other areas. The goal of the Entrepreneurship Education in Genomics Program is to develop and strengthen the interface between business and science through young entrepreneurs who will work in genomics labs.

Finance committee  No, I think that is just one item. If we have good ideas and we have people trained on the entrepreneurial side, then I think capital will come. With good ideas, capital will come. I don't think that is the real deficiency. The deficiency is in that gap we have. We have just launched an entrepreneurial educational program specifically in genomics whereby over the next three years we're going to have young entrepreneurs going into the genomics labs, understanding what they're doing, and getting new ideas into the commercial space.

Finance committee  They are held by the institutions, meaning the universities and research institutes. We do not take any part of those rights.

Finance committee  Sure. I'll start with a great example in Newfoundland, since we're here. In the health area, a genomic study funded by Genome Canada about four years ago was able to identify a defective gene in Newfoundland families. Males between the ages of 40 and 45 were just dropping dead of heart failure.

Finance committee  We've averaged between $80 million and $100 million per year. It's been sporadic over the years. This is not out of whack with the average that we've been receiving from the federal government. The regional centre here is in Halifax. It covers the four provinces of the Atlantic region.

Finance committee  Good day, Chair, committee members. I will be making my presentation in English; however, I would be delighted to answer questions in French, should there be any. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on behalf of Genome Canada, I'm pleased to participate in this consultation process leading to the 2012 federal budget.