Science and Research committee  Yes, thank you. I will just make one quick comment about our IP policy. We have a creator-owned IP policy at the University of Calgary. We received some strategic input from an investor community here in Alberta that suggested that historical levels of IP claimed by the university were too high, and indeed a barrier to company creation.

Science and Research committee  In the second part of your question, you asked if it was a combination of factors. I think it's a combination of factors. It's not an easy space, and we know the pathways to commercialization have successes but also many ventures that fall off and don't make it. That's part of innovation ecosystems.

Science and Research committee  I just want to add that one of the biggest roadblocks is failure, and failure is a predictable outcome in these pathways. That's why mentorship programs are so key to supporting resiliency: Step back and try again, modify your approach, etc.

Science and Research committee  Yes, absolutely. I think there are all kinds of industry partnerships. There are some in which an industry partner wants very early-stage concept discussion, and there might even be the co-creation of an IP pathway. There are other situations when the partnership is centred around an industry-owned technology and there is a desire to validate, refine and demonstrate impact in an applied sector.

Science and Research committee  You've caught me a bit off guard, because I don't want to—

Science and Research committee  Yes, I will.

Science and Research committee  Just very quickly, we're a beneficiary at this university of municipal funding through something called the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, which is for innovation programs. We have a provincial Alberta Innovates agency and a Ministry of Technology and Innovation that provide us with support in many areas, and of course the substantial federal government programs.

Science and Research committee  It's still easier going after Dr. Murphy. I'll just say that the report is very interesting. I think it has balanced consideration of funding, as well as of how the governance of the funding agencies is structured. It addresses major science infrastructure, which is an important challenge for all countries, not least for Canada.

Science and Research committee  We don't at this time because of guidance that has come to us through the bodies I just mentioned.

Science and Research committee  Thank you very much for that question. I think it's a really pertinent one. As I said earlier, the partnership programs of the tri-council agencies are a valuable catalyst, because they explicitly connect universities with companies and they incentivize and subsidize those connections by bringing some public sector funding to the table that both the universities and the private sector partner can benefit from.

Science and Research committee  Yes.

Science and Research committee  That's also a question that can be answered in terms of the quantitative details after the fact. I don't have those numbers at my fingertips here. I think your question is of course a very pertinent one, particularly in the current time, when there is a heightened attention to matters of research security.

Science and Research committee  I would just jump in and echo Dr. Murphy. Partnership funding programs are something that I would welcome, speaking as an N of one, but also as a vice-president of research. We know that the NSERC programs and the alliance programs are very good for bridging researchers within post-secondary institutions with companies.

Science and Research committee  I have the easier job, because I get to follow the wisdom of Dr. Murphy. I do want to add one piece, which is that both of us here are from the post-secondary sector, in which, as I see the numbers, Canada is rather strong, both in public sector expenditures for R and D and in the performance of the post-secondary sector in terms of expenditures in research activity.

Science and Research committee  Yes. As to whether there are particular sectors, one area I could comment on, in which we have been quite active as a post-secondary sector, has been responding to the federal government's bioinnovation and biomanufacturing strategy and the investments that have been made just recently, which I think have been motivated by the pandemic and the realization that Canada was lacking domestic capacity to mobilize quickly for novel therapeutics, diagnostics and, most notably, vaccines.