Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did anticipate the question, but I don't have a pat answer—not surprisingly, I think. It is a very important question. I'm not going to have an answer today that it ought to be 40-20-20. We are working on it. I'm not sure we're going to come up with ratios, but there are two points I would make.

Industry committee  Thank you. On the matter of collaboration between federal departments and universities, there has been much public discussion about this. We canvassed our universities with a quick survey to see what kinds of collaborative relationships they had in place with federal agencies and departments.

Industry committee  I agree. There is no single model. We have to learn from what is going on in a number of countries. More and more competitor countries are aggressively pursuing higher education and research as part of their national social and economic development policies and strategies. We can learn—I don't want to cherry-pick because we have to take the time to understand the context in which certain kinds of things are done in a country, and it's not our context.

Industry committee  That's right.

Industry committee  Thank you. Ms. Nash, you raised the issue a couple of times in questions about balance, but it's balance along a number of dimensions. It's not a target where we'll know we have the balance right and we'll stay there; it is always a work in progress. It is a balanced approach to targeted versus non-targeted research.

Industry committee  Thank you. If I may, I'll ask my colleague Dr. Gauthier to speak. She is working on our report, precisely on this issue of demonstrating momentum and how we demonstrate the benefits Canada will ultimately realize as a result of investments in research. Madame Gauthier.

Industry committee  Thank you. I anticipated that question might come, because I noted it had been raised before, so I did a little quick checking. The fact is that concentration is not a new phenomenon. In 1997, if you look at total federal support for university research, the top 15 institutions accounted for 75%.

Industry committee  Thank you. If I understood your question correctly, it was specifically with regard to the operating costs on big science facilities.

Industry committee  On big science, on the specific issue of operating.... We have to be careful not to generalize, because some provinces in fact are contributing to the operating costs on some of them. It varies, and it varies with our own priorities, but it is the case that some are contributing.

Industry committee  Thank you. First of all, as to the question of bias in my remarks, we represent universities and university-level colleges, hence my bias. I can't speak for community colleges. I know that the ACCC does speak for community colleges; Jim Knight spoke to the issue here. I know that they are doing what they view as important applied research, and they're doing more of it.

Industry committee  Just briefly, clearly a number of our member institutions are involved, either as hosts or involved otherwise. Many of these facilities involve quite a number of institutions, including some private sector partners, provincial governments, and others. It's fair to say that I agree completely with Dr.

Industry committee  Thank you for the question. We have to do a combination of things. First, without doubt, we must produce more PhDs here in Canada. For at least 20 years, we have looked overseas for a significant proportion of our PhDs, immigrants with doctorates. They are going to remain a significant source of our advanced degree-holders and we are going to have to be able to compete globally in order to get them.

Industry committee  First of all, the question is where the private sector is having its research done. To the extent that it is funding some of the research in the universities, in many cases it's on a contract basis. When I talk about commercialization, I'm not necessarily talking so much about the results of that research directly funded on a contract basis in the institutions; when we're talking about commercialization, I think we're talking more generally about the wide range of research done in the universities, most often publicly funded, and how that research then makes its way to the marketplace.

Industry committee  Thank you for the opportunity to be here today, Mr. Chair. With me is my colleague Michelle Gauthier. She is the Director of Research and Policy Analysis at AUCC. Canadians' standard of living depends increasingly on our competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. To maintain and enhance the standard of living Canadians currently enjoy, we must secure our position among the world leaders in research.