Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Okay. There are a number of spin-offs from the technology we have helped to create. Canada's abilities in light metal casting and in metal forming are top-notch. Those, of course, have applications in the aerospace sector, in the general manufacturing sector--for appliances and w

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I think it's highly relevant. First of all, it's factual. They were. We work with all the companies that have appeared before you, both the North American-based and the foreign-based manufacturers and their parts supply chains. And I think it's also important to understand that a

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Thank you for your question. I think I'll continue in English, because it's late and I'm slow. AUTO21 has a number of key goals that we work on. All of our projects are measured against one or more of these goals. One is the enhanced environmental performance of the car and the

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I'm not going to speak extensively about the current market difficulties of the auto industry except to say that without any doubt, as others have said, the problems being faced by our auto sector are being played out around the world in every auto-making nation and region, from

Industry committee  At the present time we don't have a specific project on heavy trucks, but quite a number of our researchers do a great deal of work with the truck industry. A good deal of the work of the diesel engine researcher at Windsor I mentioned earlier is funded by International Truck a

Industry committee  Right. We're stretched pretty tight. Our budget's stretched like a rubber band.

Industry committee  That's a very good question. I would have to say this. The auto companies generally see the powertrain as a core technology that is part of their competitive edge. So they don't collaborate too much on engine technology per se, but they're doing a lot on transmissions and hybri

Industry committee  I would hesitate to comment, sir. So I think there are some issues on which they will collaborate and some issues on which they won't. I think if the seeds were right for Canadian participation in some of that...we already work with all those companies separately on many issues

Industry committee  That really would be something between the researcher and the company. That's not something that AUTO21 has taken a role in. We decided at the outset that it would be better to leave that with the researcher and the respective universities or institutions involved.

Industry committee  No, sir. We don't take an ownership of the intellectual property. That's a choice we made at the outset. Any royalties would be paid to the respective universities where the research is actually accomplished, so the inventors own the intellectual property. We've found that mode

Industry committee  In my experience, it's very difficult to force companies to do things like that. Magna has been a very good partner of ours and a very good partner of many Canadian researchers. I think it's really up to all of us, as Canadians, to build the best possible business case to ensure

Industry committee  Yes, we also have a partnership with George Brown, and they've contributed very strongly on the design of the new car seat that is now on the market. Magna started a new division called Magna Marque. That product is on the market. There's actually a whole new line of car seats co

Industry committee  It's a bit of an administrative issue. I don't think we need to make too much of it here, sir, but although the colleges are all eligible to receive research grants from federal government organizations like AUTO21 and AFMNet, they sometimes don't have the internal structures. Th

Industry committee  Well, I guess you have to define who “our people” are. I'm not in charge of what they develop. Each of the auto companies has its own particular market strategy and the products they believe are going to sell well for them. That's not something I can really affect. I think what'

Industry committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Simard. I'm going to say something a little bit controversial that will probably have me under attack: I'm not sure we need more money in the innovation system; I think we need to target what we do more carefully. Essentially, Canada's