Modelled on Israeli partnership Canada launches first program devoted to bi-national collaborative R&D projects

Canada is taking the first step towards establishing a network of bi-national collaborative R&D programs modeled on its successful collaboration with Israel. International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTPCanada) has been selected to implement a $20-million program over five years to support bilateral R&D with Israel, India, China and Brazil.

ISTPCanada is a new arm's length organization chosen through a competitive process and jointly managed by executives from the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) and Precarn Inc.

It will support up to 50% of the Canadian contribution to bilateral R&D projects, building on industrial R&D or scientific and technological cooperation agreements signed with Israel, India and China. Funding levels have been established for those countries (see chart on page 2) and negotiations for a similar agreement with Brazil are in progress.

ISTPCanada is the operational arm of the International Science and Technology Partnerships Program (ISTPP), which received $20 million in funding in the 2005 Liberal Budget. While responsibility and accountability for ISTPP falls to International Trade minister David Emerson, program delivery through ISTPCanada will be overseen by a steering committee jointly appointed and co-chaired at the DG level by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and Industry Canada.

CIIRDF remains the delivery organization for Canada's agreement with Israel and will run in parallel to ISTPCanada and its funding is included in the overall budget of ISTPCanada. Both organizations are headed by Dr Henri Rothschild, who has served as CIIRDF's president since its inception in 1994. He will serve as president of ISTPCanada while a representative from Precarn will serve as VP.

Rothschild says the creation of ISTPCanada is "a breakthrough" in inter-departmental cooperation. Not only will it provide Canada with an unprecedented opportunity to forge links with other nations that could pay major dividends in the future, it will internationalize S&T policy to a greater degree than has been achieved in the past. While acknowledging the modest scope of the program, he says the immediate challenge is to demonstrate results.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts … In some cases there will be opportunities for trilateral and even multilateral activities," says Rothschild. "What I'd like to see in about eight months' time is a suite of investments that are spectacular … Our mission is to show through deal flow what we can do with the amounts we've been given, how much of a return we can provide to Canadian taxpayers … We can then say, ‘provide us with the resources to meet the capacity of Canadians and the Canadian innovation community.'"

In the coming weeks, ISTPCanada will launch a website, prepare for joint calls for proposals with its Indian and Chinese counterparts and increase staffing in anticipation of the initial slate of project proposals. ISTP Canada will handle the front end of project solicitation and appraisal before handing off project management to Precarn.

"This is a marriage made in heaven. Precarn has a good track record of managing R&D programs and Rothschild and his team have bilateral and S&T expertise," says Precarn president and CEO, Dr Paul Johnston. "ISTPCanada is the first example that we can be a third party delivery mechanism that's cost effective."

Adds Rothschild, "A bi-national technology partnership programs has to be an extension of a domestic one and Precarn has experience on the domestic front. It's a natural partnership."

Approximately 80% of funding will be devoted to bi-national projects in previously identified priority areas where it's determined that Canada has the best chance at leveraging resources and gaining competitive advantage. Unlike CIIRDF, which is focused exclusively on collaborative industrial R&D, projects with China, India and eventually Brazil are open to other stakeholders. But Rothschild says all projects must have a Canadian industrial partner.

"We are trying to get as much university and hospital cooperation as we can but essentially the rules are company-to-company," he says. "With India, China and Brazil, we're going to focus a lot more on forming teams in Canada with a minimum of one company."

ISTPCanada evaluators will assess project proposals using several key questions being passed on for further scrutiny. Each project must demonstrate that is possesses good technology, has a prospective market for the technology, will accrue benefit to the company involved and can lead to enduring partnerships.

And because it's a multinational program, it's hoped that there will be cross fertilization among the participating projects.

"The point is to build up competence for Canada to do business-like, hard-edged, well managed international partnerships," says Rothschild. "My view is, ISTPCanada's size and scope has to change."

Rothschild says the creation of ISTPCanada offers an unprecedented opportunity to integrate with the Canadian S&T funding structure. He points to the venture capital (VC) industry as illustration for how it might work. For government, he suggests the establishment of a coordinating investment committee where all funding agencies can sit down and share diligence, experience, expertise and perspective. ISTPCanada would take the lead in project management regardless of whether it's the lead investor.

"We've spoken to a lot of organizations and the response has been very positive, no turf defending at all," he says. "This is a work in progress (but) we'll crack this nut. There's no reason why we can't."

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