Finance committee  You're welcome.

Finance committee  In our university, we own them. That is not the case in all universities. We're very different in that instance. So our faculty members do not own the IP for a particular thing. What I can tell you is that companies like Nortel were good examples of companies that wanted government funding in there first.

Finance committee  I can't speak to the increase in R and D, because I don't know that area. I do know that our university, in particular, has in recent years been a recipient of more R and D funding from federal government sources. For that we're grateful. But I can't speak to it overall. I'm just not sure of the figures, and I wouldn't want to suggest that I would know that.

Finance committee  It goes beyond our university, but yes, ultimately, we would benefit from it. We are a different university, which is why you see something completely different in our submission.

Finance committee  Absolutely, it will, because we are an online university; we're an open university. Being able to reach out across Canada and provide an ICT framework will help. But it goes beyond our university, and that's what's important about the whole vision for the nation. If you just look at our preparedness for an ICT vision to be implemented, we rank pretty low when it comes to things such as digital content availability or bandwidth or infrastructure development.

Finance committee  That's a good question. There are a couple we mention in our brief that are leading the way. Some of the northern countries like Denmark and Norway are focusing on ICT development. It's in a broad range of areas, not just about research and development. A lot of that information is available, but we're not using it in the implementation of any kind of learning strategy or e-learning strategy.

Finance committee  There are lots of policies and processes the government can look at. Consider how we allow our cellphone rates to be regulated in different ways. The United States is working on this; so is Europe. They have policies in place. It's not just one area; it is across the board. Policies in a particular department of government need to coincide with policies in another area of government.

Finance committee  Absolutely, and that's critical as a foundation for any kind of ICT vision that the country develops. I can only speak to the education component. We reach a significant population in our rural and northern areas, mostly in Alberta right now, because that's where we've been focusing.

Finance committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today about what we think is an important component of Canadian culture, and that is the importance of a national information technology or an ICT vision. I also want to thank you--and it is relevant to our discussion today--for the knowledge infrastructure program and the funding we received as a university, which actually for the first time, we think, recognized technology as capital.