Science and Research committee  Thank you for the question. I guess, at a very basic level, the publication costs for those journals that actually require you to pay for publication costs are an eligible expense under grants from the granting council, so there is that level of support. The other thing is that, when it comes to peer-review processes for grant awards, I think there isn't a really strong attempt to ensure there is a level playing field between the two languages, and that's borne out by some of the statistics around the success rates, although, granted, a smaller proportion generally of francophone researchers actually submit their applications in French than would be the case if you were going by population share.

Science and Research committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I would like to thank the committee members for the invitation. I am pleased to be here with you today to testify. I will take this opportunity to introduce, virtually, my colleague Valérie La Traverse, vice-president, corporate affairs, at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Industry committee  Thanks for the question. Briefly, when it comes to cybersecurity, and quantum is part of that, there was a program launched last year, called the cybersecurity innovation network, that is basically to fund collaborations between universities and industry as well as training programs across the country.

Industry committee  And where the gaps are.

Industry committee  When it comes to intellectual property that is generated in universities, universities themselves have their own kinds of approaches to management of intellectual property and they have different models. Some are owned by the researcher, some are owned by the institution and licensed to the researcher, and they're looking at ways to maximize the economic potential of the IP that is generated here in Canada.

Industry committee  Very quickly, for both the academic sector and Canadian industry, there's been a lot of effort over the last couple of years to do a lot of outreach and training. For researchers, it's even like, “What could someone want to steal that I have?” It's about whether you have the right protections in terms of cybersecurity.

Industry committee  When it comes to quantum computing, we're still at a relatively early stage in many ways. When you talk about the need to not be picking a lane at this point in quantum computing, I think that's probably right. We have a number of players within Canada that are all pursuing slightly different approaches, and sometimes very different approaches, to achieving the ultimate goal, which is a quantum computer that can correct for errors and that enables you to do some really meaningful real-world types of calculations on it.

Industry committee  I guess what I'm saying with respect to quantum computing is that we're still at that early stage. We're not at the point where we'd be in a position to pick winners, because of our small number of investments. The race is still on, and we're still at a fairly early stage in development.

Industry committee  I think that's true. I think there are programs that are doing that right now. You mentioned the investment in D-Wave. That was done through the strategic innovation fund, which is for those kinds of companies at a certain threshold level.

Industry committee  That's true. If we were to walk through that kind of translational space, I think the first barrier is the scientist who is trying to figure out what their product is. There are some questions about whether we actually have the tools we need to help a scientist innovator define the economic opportunity, the product, and then to develop a business that can actually succeed in raising capital.

Industry committee  The most important thing in these collaborations from that security perspective is that we make sure that we're engaging with our trusted partners in a way that we can actually have interoperability. At earlier stages of research, it's less of a contentious issue because the research is very fundamental in nature and maybe doesn't have as much of a technological implication.

Industry committee  No. I'm sorry, I was talking about the Canada-U.S. border.

Industry committee  I'll give you an example. In the alliance program, which is one of the key delivery vehicles for the quantum strategy when it comes to research, there are some research security provisions that are built into that which basically require that we understand, where there are industrial partners involved, whether those partners meet the international norms in terms of transparency, openness, state control and other factors.

Industry committee  Well, I'm not an international trade expert, I have to admit. I would say that there are typically provisions in those agreements with respect to trade in goods, services and procurement. As well, there are provisions related to national security. I think all would be relevant to quantum.

Industry committee  Thank you for that question as well. It's one that we think a lot about, because our ability to actually seize the benefits of these technologies over time really relies on having that pipeline of talent. Having the researchers here means you can train students. It means that companies are interested in setting their home bases here in Canada, because the natural resource in these emerging technology areas is people.