The Future in Collaborations and Partnerships Roman Szusmki Vice-President, Life Sciences June 18, 2009

Presentation Overview Introduction: Collaboration and Partnerships -Why and How Basic Partnerships Large Scale Partnerships with OGDs Beyond Partnerships The Future in Collaboration and Partnerships

Collaboration and Partnerships - Why? Leverage skills and resources Larger and sustainable impact Unique competitive advantage Opens doors for future endeavours

Collaboration and Partnerships - How? Identify common goals Break down traditional barriers between different levels of government, academia and industry Move quickly to specific projects

Basic Partnerships Example: NRC Crossroad for BioTransfer Annual technology transfer event One-stop venue for health-sector businesses to forge partnerships with research-intensive institutions and leading researchers and innovators This year’s event showcased 40 high impact technologies from NRC, McGill University and l’Université de Montreal Result: NRC working with two of Canada’s leading universities to create tech transfer opportunities and enhance biopharma sector

Large Scale Partnerships with OGDs Example: National Bioproducts Program Multidisciplinary initiative co-led by NRC, NRCan and AgCan Program supports federal S&T strategy and seeks to address Canadian priorities relating to the environment, sustainable energy and rural revitalization Ongoing consultations with industry experts to ensure that project results are aligned with industry needs and directed toward commercialization Program is guided by Advisory Body composed of industry experts who provided strategic guidance Result: Program that operates in an industry-facing manner and that leverages skills and resources from three leading federal science institutions toward common goals and Canadian priorities

Beyond Partnerships Example: Biomedical Commercialization Canada (BCC) NRC IPFs incubate new and small companies and give them access to leading edge R&D, equipment, flexible lab and office space and NRC professionals who are committed to finding innovative solutions to foster commercialization and success. Private sector, not-for profit business incubation organization located at a local NRC Industry Partnership Facility (IPF) and created through a partnership involving NRC and Government of Manitoba

NRC was instrumental in creating the concept of BCC: Create a company to support more innovative and growth-oriented companies without dealing with “government red tape ” BCC offers entrepreneur and commercialization support programs to early-stage biomedical companies NRC supports BCC by providing access to research facilities, technical information, innovation services (i.e. link with NRC-IRAP) and advisory services Result: NRC invests in business incubators to ensure that new technologies are properly launched into the marketplace

The Future in Collaborations and Partnerships All levels of government, industry and academia working together (i.e. clusters) “Foresighting” (cross departmental) International collaboration for big issues (i.e. climate change)