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The Panel's consultations with a wide variety of stakeholders in government, academia and the private sector indicated a high level of interest in ISTI as a means to improve Canada's science and innovation system and its economic competitiveness, and as an important element in the Canada's overall S&T strategy. During the consultation process, a full range of possibilities were entertained, ranging from divestiture to various forms of alternative arrangement involving public-private partnerships.
The input also indicated strong support for an ongoing process of identifying opportunities for ISTI. However, there was virtual unanimity in the view that the phrase "transfer of federal non-regulatory laboratories" is problematic and that terminology should be adopted to reflect the broad scope of opportunities for inter-sectoral collaboration.
A large majority of stakeholder commentators concurred with the conclusions that:
A variety of useful suggestions were made with respect to the criteria for identifying and selecting promising opportunities for ISTI involving federal laboratories. The input validated the Panel's preliminary identification of the key elements of a possible framework for ISTI and identified desirable refinements and additional features. Among the factors viewed as critical to the success of ISTI initiatives, commentators placed special emphasis on the need for a shared vision of purpose and desired outcomes, strong and sustained commitment of partners, effective leadership and clarity of roles and accountabilities. In general, the various detailed suggestions received centred around three pillars of success: strong shared commitment; sound governance, and excellent leadership.
It was recognized that while all partners in alternative management arrangements operate within certain constraints, it is possible, through careful design of management and accountability mechanisms, to work within them successfully. It was also recognized that it would be desirable to remove or modify constraints that are no longer necessary in substance or form, respectively.
Some provincial officials expressed strong interest in, and support for, the concept of partnering in ISTI, and stakeholders recognized the important role provincial governments can play in integration initiatives.
A fuller summary of stakeholder input is provided in Appendix V – Summary of Input to the Panel on Inter-Sectoral S&T Integration. A detailed compilation report prepared by the facilitator of the regional roundtable discussions has been sent to participants.
A systematic approach is needed to guide government officials in dealing with proposed ISTI initiatives involving federal departments and agencies. The development and implementation of a federal policy framework for S&T integration can provide such guidance.
The key elements of the framework proposed by the Panel are outlined below. The applicability of the particular elements of the framework will depend on whether the initiative under consideration involves full transfer to a non-governmental entity (divestiture); or, transfer to an entity jointly sponsored and managed by government, academic and/or private sector organizations (partnering).
The Panel's study and analysis was conducted on the basis of the goals, objectives and strategy as described by or imputed from its mandate. The Panel recommends the goal, objectives and strategy articulated be reviewed in the light of our findings. We offer the following formulation for consideration:
Overarching goal: enhanced realization of the potential of the scientific and technological capacities of government, academia and the private sector for the benefit of Canadians.
General strategy for achieving the goal: realign appropriate scientific activities of government laboratories with those of academia and the private sector so as to benefit from the potential synergies and complementarities realignment can bring.
Specific Strategy: inter-sectoral S&T integration (ISTI), through governance and management arrangements for eligible federal S&T activities that include participation of academia and/or the private sector.
Desired Outcomes:
The Panel developed working definitions of the terms used in describing its mandate to assist in organizing and focusing its discussions and consultations. On the basis of those discussions and consultations, the Panel recommends reconsideration of the use of certain terms.
First, the term "transfer" lends itself to the inference that the Government is intent on wholesale divestment of its non-regulatory laboratories – an inference that was not conducive to constructive dialogue with some stakeholders. However, when the topic was framed as "inter-sectoral S&T integration" and "alternatives to sole government ownership and control" the tone of the discussion was constructive and even enthusiastic. Accordingly, the Panel suggests that the phrase "inter-sectoral S&T integration" be used instead of "transfer" in describing a move to alternative management arrangements for S&T.
Second, the Panel suggests that whether federal laboratories are regulatory or non-regulatory is not the best basis of determining their eligibility for possible integration with other sectors. Instead, the Panel proposes that the federal S&T activities eligible for ISTI should be those activities in respect of which the federal government does not require exclusive ownership and operational control. On this basis, not all activities coming under the Statistics Canada definition of regulatory S&T would necessarily be excluded from ISTI; and, not all activities defined as non-regulatory would necessarily be eligible for ISTI.[12]
Third, the premise that government is best able to perform regulatory science while the other sectors are best able to perform non-regulatory science is too broad a generalization. There are areas of vital public interest where research of a non-regulatory nature is required that non-governmental sectors are unable, unwilling or unlikely to carry out. Such areas would not lend themselves to full transfer to academia or the private sector. However, in some of these areas the government's requirements could be met through its participation in joint sponsorship, governance and management of an inter-sectoral research program.
The level of the government's continuing interest in, requirement for and commitment to the scientific activity under consideration for ISTI is the most important consideration in determining its position in negotiating the form and substance of alternative arrangements for governing and managing that activity.
This includes:
Analogous considerations will no doubt be important in determining the position of potential academic or private sector "partners" in negotiating alternative arrangements.
The criteria proposed for evaluating ISTI initiatives reflect the relevance of the initiatives to the goals and objectives of the ISTI strategy as a whole and the extent to which the initiatives contain the elements that are critical for successful implementation.
Probability of success in achieving primary objectives
Strength of commitment of parties to the ISTI initiative
Quality of the proposed management and accountability arrangements and business plan
Managerial and Scientific Leadership
Feasibility
Impact
Timeliness
Implementation
A central locus of authority and responsibility is required for managing the horizontal application of the framework. The central agency's role could include:
Performance evaluation
A general plan is required for evaluating the performance of the entities created as part of ISTI initiatives. The plan should include: