Government putting money where its mouth is on innovation

As the world celebrates Global Biotech Week, it's high time for our companies and researchers to do something that most would consider rather un-Canadian: pat themselves on the back.

After all, it's Canada that has led the way in the global biotech industry for so many years with advances in areas like genomics, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes, with the discovery of insulin. It is one of our government's priorities to ensure the biotech industry continues to enjoy a high-profile and international success.

Our government's Innovation and Skills Plan sets clear objectives for generating well-paying, middle-class jobs and driving long-term growth across all industries, including biotech in Canada. Canadians are leaders at starting new biotech companies, but we also know that there are challenges in scaling up firms into globally-competitive companies.

Naturally, access to capital is one of the biggest challenges.

Our government recognizes the importance of access to capital as a key success factor for Canadian biotech companies' long term growth, and their ability to create jobs for Canadians. This is why we announced the $400-million Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI), which will support the growth of Canada's promising start-ups. It's open to all sectors, including biotech.

With funds leveraged from the private sector, the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative could inject up to $1.5-billion into Canada's innovation capital market. This initiative complements the ongoing venture capital investments that the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) makes in innovative Canadian companies across the tech sector, including in biotech and the life sciences.

We are in a global innovation race, and in order to succeed on the world stage our companies must be able to access a pool of global talent as easily as possible. Collectively, we must make our country attractive to the world's best and brightest for our companies to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of an ever-changing globalized economy.

That is why we launched the Global Skills Strategy in June to facilitate faster access to top global talent for companies doing business in Canada that are committed to bringing new skills to Canada and creating more jobs. It sets an ambitious two-week standard for processing visas and work permits for global talent.

As is clearly demonstrated by our government's Global Skills Strategy, while other parts of the world are focused on building walls, Canada is focused on building bridges and opening doors. Our values of openness, acceptance, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion in all sectors of our economy are part of Canada's value proposition. This gives our businesses a significant competitive advantage.

By re-establishing Canada's international reputation and providing our businesses with a stable and predictable environment, our government has set the stage for the dynamic and diverse economic growth our country is currently experiencing. Since October 2015, 400,000 jobs have been created. In the second quarter of 2017, our economy grew by 4.5 per cent, ranking first among G7 countries. This is Canada's moment and our government fully intends to help our businesses seize it.

To spur further economic growth and realize even better results, we recently launched a new $1.26-billion Strategic Innovation Fund and will be investing up to $950-million in the Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

Another one of our priorities is intellectual property (IP). Perhaps more than any other industry, biotech relies on IP for its success. Yet, analysts acknowledge that Canadian innovators are not strategically using IP to scale-up. That's why our most recent budget announced that we will develop a new IP strategy for Canada. It will help ensure that our regime is modern, robust, and supports Canadian innovations in the 21st century, and prepares Canadian innovators to turn their ideas into commercial opportunities in the global marketplace.

At the end of the day, there can be no doubt: the Canadian biotech industry is an important economic driver for this country. Whether the company is a market leader or a young upstart, biotech businesses will continue to need access to capital and a solid IP strategy on which to build. And our government will continue to be a committed partner of the Biotech Industry, for the benefit of all Canadians.

(The op-ed above appears in the Hill Times. Link here: https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/09/20/government-putting-money-mouth-innovation/119476)