Industry committee  We absolutely do. We're more than happy to do that. In meeting individually with MPs and deputy ministers and ministers, we have one standing offer among others. That offer is that if you are interested in research that's being done in Canada and funded in Canada through us, we a

Industry committee  Absolutely. We work very closely with NSERC. They are part of our portfolio within Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. We work very closely with CIHR. We share with NSERC a number of administrative services directly, including human resources, information servic

Industry committee  Thank you, sir.

Industry committee  Absolutely. In fact, through our collaborative research program, we have encouraged the participation of many companies. About 10% of partners come from this program. We have close to 300 active partners because of this program. Nearly 300 companies are active participants and co

Industry committee  Thank you for pointing that out, sir.

Industry committee  I will begin and then I will turn the floor over to Ms. Bérubé. In my view, the biggest problem is that entrepreneurs and companies are not really sure about what SSHRC does. That is our main challenge. We have a lot to offer to those companies and to the Canadian public, but we

Industry committee  I would say that’s not the case at all. At any rate, researchers choose their areas, their research topics in co-operation with industry. That’s the way things work and I must admit that this is not a concern for me. There is a peer review process in place, which works very well

Industry committee  Absolutely. I would say that we are the best in the world. In addition, our administrative expenses are not high at all. They actually represent 6% of our total costs. As I mentioned earlier, about 95% of our funding goes to researchers.

Industry committee  Not yet. We are waiting for the budget.

Industry committee  I would go on the record as saying that we share your concern. Our mandate is to fund research and training in social sciences and humanities in Canada and to provide advice to government. Our view is that this is best applied to research that's further upstream in terms of the d

Industry committee  You've raised an interesting point, and I just want to pick up on it a little bit. It's one I've mentioned often. That is, some of the research that's done in the upper end of the spectrum doesn't always result in new products and in technological advances, particularly in our ar

Industry committee  I'll have to answer by saying yes and no—in a way. The first part of the answer is that we are an agency that supports all Canadian researchers in the post-secondary sector. We have competitions that are open to all researchers and students. The applications will come from anywhe

Industry committee  Yes, I'm good, but I'm not that good. I think I got a few of the questions, so if you wouldn't mind, as we go along...?

Industry committee  Yes. I'll start and everyone will help me.

Industry committee  To be clear, the program is now in place. It's part of a broader endeavour that SSHRC undertook through a broad consultation process starting about two years ago. It was called “Imagining Canada's Future”. The sole objective of this program was to help identify, with the help of