Alberta raises bar for nanotechnology with new strategy and $130 million in funding

Dovetails with economic priorities

The Alberta government is committing $130 million over five years for an ambitious nanotechnology strategy to help the province capture 2% of the projected $2-trillion global nanotech market by 2020. The strategy contains a number of new programs aimed at boosting expertise, business development and infrastructure (see chart on page 2). It moves yet another province ahead of the federal government which has yet to act on the file.

Alberta's funding will be directed towards priority areas the government has identified for growth of its knowledge-based economy — energy and environment, health and medical technologies and agriculture and forestry. Central to the strategy's implementation is the creation of nanoAlberta, a $5.5-million initiative that will serve to coordinate relevant players within government, industry and academia as well as providing strategic direction.

Nano Alberta will be modelled along the lines of existing research institutes for energy and life sciences operating under the auspices of the Alberta Science and Research Authority.

"This sets a bar to which we can all aspire to. It is really a strategy focused on the development of nano-enabled products and applications for our key sectors. The way in which we developed this strategy was by clearly stating what the outcome is," says Dr Ronald Dyck, ADM at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Technology (AET). "We asked what it would take to achieve a $20-billion industry by 2020. Then we worked backwards through analysis and modeling … We need to stimulate business and business development and create the right conditions under which we can move this forward."

Alberta is the second province after Quebec to develop a nanotech strategy, with each focused on the economic and strategic priorities of its respective jurisdiction. It comes at a time when Alberta officials are engaged in preliminary talks with their counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario to establish a national network for coordinating activities and investments and ensuring researcher access to shared infrastructure. A working group to advance collaboration will be established shortly.

At the same time, a federal strategy being developed under the previous Liberal government appears to have stalled. Work on a federal strategy was undertaken prior to the last election by the National Science Advisor's office and the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science and Technology. Insiders say it appears the Conservative government may be content to allow the provinces to take the lead on nanotech and follow through with targeted support and collaboration. Whether that's the case, opinion is unanimous that federal participation is essential.

"The federal government needs to listen to the provinces. On the world scene, Canada is the label people use not the provinces," says Dyck. "A high-level strategy realized at the local level is a good thing. Each province has its own emphasis. We've declared ours and the other provinces should also declare. Then we'll begin to see the overlaps and emerging areas of interest and emphasis unique to each province's area of strategic importance."

A key vehicle for delivering the nanotech strategy is Alberta Ingenuity, the province's science and engineering endowment. Of the $130 million in new money, $40 million will come from AI's endowment, with AI responsible for delivering another $30 million in AET funding.

AI will focus primarily on skills attraction, retention and development — an effort that accounts for $60 million in funding. Programs will be launched for graduate and undergraduate training, the latter aimed at both universities and the province's technical institutes. There will also be an initiative to encourage younger students to consider a science education and a public outreach campaign to engage the general public.

AI will also be responsible for launching a so-called Ingenuity Accelerator in Nanotechnology, with the details still in development.

"This is intended to get the best people in the world to come to Alberta," says AI president and CEO Dr Peter Hackett. "We will work with Alberta institutions to get these people into the best operating environment possible."

On the business side, a slate of programs are in development to grow the province's company base in nanotechnology. These include programs for nanotechnology entrepreneurs, a nano entrepreneurs club and a nanotech venture prize.

For Alberta to achieve 2% of projected global nanotechnology sales by 2020, there must be sales of at least $20 billion, raising questions about who is going to finance the companies required to reach the target.

Dr Denzil Doyle, a veteran high-tech entrepreneur and angel investor, says reaching that target will be a major challenge unless the government focuses on assembling pools of risk capital for investment.

"If Alberta is to build a $20-billion nanotech industry by 2020, it will have to create at least five anchor companies with sales of $500 million or more, and dozens of smaller companies with sales in the millions. Total employment would be about 100,000," says Doyle. "I think the (strategy) should address how Alberta is going to build local pools of risk capital to finance the industry."

Dyck says the full financial scope of the nanotech strategy will become clear once the recently appointed Value-Added and Technology Commercialization Task Force reports to AET minister Doug Horner this summer. Key components of the Task Force's mandate are to explore ways for increasing venture capital in the province and encouraging investment and research in knowledge-based industries in which Alberta has the potential for leadership.

"We want to develop a new generation of businesses and entrepreneurs in nanotechnology," says Dyck. "The task force on value-added and commercialization will be influential in realizing the potential of the strategy. It will feed into the strategy to create the right policy and business climate to make the strategy really fly."

Hackett says the province's support and integrated plans for nanotech will be reflected in a roadmap for the technology platform now being developed.

"It all has to link into the local economy and its diversification. Each category will be well chosen where Alberta can win economically," says Hackett.

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