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The Industry Canada minister accepted (Sept 2 2008) recommendations from the Science, Technology and Innovation Council on the sub-priorities of the four priority areas identified in the 2007 Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy ( The State of Science & Technology in Canada , 2006, Council of Canadian Academies ). The recommended sub-areas are: S&T priority: Environmental science and technologies Sub-priorities : Water (health, energy, security); cleaner methods of extracting, processing and using hydrocarbon fuels, including reduced consumption of these fuels S&T priority: Natural resources and energy Sub-priorities : Energy production in the oil sands; Arctic (resource production, climate change adaptation, monitoring); biofuels, fuel cells and nuclear energy S&T priority: Health and related life sciences and technologies Sub-priorities : Regenerative medicine; neuroscience; health in an aging population; biomedical engineering and medical technologies S&T p...

The previously reported "Review of the National Innovation System Report - Venturous Australia" -- interestingly and surprisingly -- includes a whole section entitled " Innovation in Government ". Its recommendations are: Recommendation 10.1: Consideration should be given to extending the platform created to enforce payments and administer income contingent loans through the tax system; for instance, by extending income contingent loans for tertiary education outside universities and for sole trader entrepreneurs seeking to fund innovative projects. Recommendation 10.2: An advisory committee of web 2.0 practitioners should be established to propose and help steer governments as they experiment with web 2.0 technologies and ideas. Recommendation 10.3 An Advocate for Government Innovation should be established to promote innovation in the public sector. Recommendation 10.4: A rigorous policy of evaluating all Australian Government innovation programs ­ and other re...

The Australian government has just released a report " Review of the National Innovation System Report - Venturous Australia" . Given the similarities on size and nature of our economies, innovation, higher education and R&D environments, this report should be examined by Canadians interested in our own national innovation system. The Australian minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (just having a ministry so named is a Good Thing!), Kim Carr spoke about this report in a speech released yesterday and talks about - among other interesting things for those interested in national innovation and R&D strategy - Creative Commons and Open Access to research outputs: It is embodied in a series of recommendations aimed at unlocking public information and content, including the results of publicly funded research. The review panel recommends making this material available under a creative commons licence through: machine searchable repositories, especially...

The January 2008 issue of Canadian Government Executive magazine has a series of articles on science/tech innovation in Canada: Science that matters . Interview with Dr. Alastair Glass, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. Supporting a knowledge economy . Interview with Richard Dicerni, deputy minister, Industry Canada. Cultivating science and technology . Interview with Dr. Pierre Coulombe , president of the National Research Council. Related postings: Minister of Industry (Canada) Appoints Members of Science, Technology and Innovation Council . (2007 September)