By IAN ROSS
Whether or not an Invasive Species Centre to fight forest insect pests ever gets built in Sault Ste. Marie depends upon the “political will” of the new federal government to come aboard as a willing partner.
Errol Caldwell, executive director of Science Enterprise Algoma (SEA), is spearheading an effort to commercialize forestry research in the city. He says any pledges of support from the previous Liberal government will likely have to be ignored at this stage.
“Governments change, priorities change and how they deal with things change.”
As a science-based economic development organization, the SEA initiative hopes to commercialize homegrown research and build up the city’s scientific capacity, while providing educational opportunities and developing business offshoots.
Sault Mayor John Rowswell has written the new federal cabinet ministers in Agriculture, Fisheries and Oceans, Environment and Natural Resources asking them for their support for the centre and the SEA initiative.
While the business case for the Invasive Species Centre has been completed, SEA is asking each federal department for a $10,000 contribution to help hire a consultant to map out a detailed operating plan for the facility.
“We can’t do it without the funding and we’re awaiting the responses to those letters,” says Caldwell.
The proposed centre, and a future forest science innovation park, would be situated on Queen Street East between the two existing government forestry labs, the Great Lakes Forestry Centre and the Ontario Forest Research Institute.
Caldwell says in his discussions with federal bureaucrats, he’s received “good response” on SEA, “but they aren’t in a position to make any financial commitment.
“Outside of the fact that we’re now planning on developing a detailed operating plan, what’s going to make or break this centre is political will.”
That means a $15-million commitment over a five-year period to ramp up the centre with ongoing operational costs of $6 million annually.
He adds that a “pretty damn good investment considering this country loses anywhere from $13 million to $30 million a year due to invasive species,” including the tree-killing Emerald Ash Borer and Asian long-horned beetle.
And there’s always potentially damaging new pests on the horizon. The Sirex wood wasp native to Europe, Asia and North Africa made an appearance last fall in upper New York State and has winged its way into eastern Ontario. This new invasive species bores into spruce and pine trees and “can be a tree killer if not properly managed,” says Caldwell.
Caldwell says there’s no shortage of provincial commitment for research funding opportunities, but how much money might be available for the Sault is still undetermined.
SEA has submitted funding applications to the Ontario Research Commercialization Program. It’s considered a key component of the province’s research and commercialization strategy.
The intent is to create a commercialization system that will quicken the movement of leading edge technology from the lab to the marketplace. Eventually it will be a grant-based program focused on growing and supporting Ontario’s technology-based industries.
To that end, the region’s larger biotechnology initiative, the former Northern Ontario Biotechnology Initiative (NOBI), has been re-named the Northern Ontario Commercialization Initiative (NOCI).
Caldwell is part of a six-person selection committee of economic development officials searching for an executive director to lead the pan-Northern Ontario network. They expect to receive as many as 60 applications before a director is named, likely in May.
Three sector specialists will also be named in the areas of bio-medical, bio-mining and bio-products research and development.
A management committee responsible for steering the day-to-day operations of the organization will also be established.
“Basically it’s all about facilitating commercialization in Northern Ontario,” says Caldwell.
He says the government is looking to fund technology transfer offices within academia and non-profit organizations to improve Ontario’s ability to take research and transfer it into the private sector.
But building a more entrepreneurial culture within the research community is an ongoing process, Caldwell says.
“To change that culture is going to take quite a few years and it’s got to be instilled at the educational level.”
Researchers are driven towards getting exposure in scientific publications and through peer recognition, he says.
“That’s what drives them, and personal satisfaction. Most are not driven by the ability to commercialize technology.”
For that reason, many universities are moving to a “mandatory disclosure process” meaning their technology transfer offices often require professors to disclose the nature of their research prior to publication, “so the university can try to capture any intellectual property that might be there.”
Last year’s collapse of Neureka, a major health sciences biotechnology lab in Sudbury, shouldn’t affect the overall development for NOCI, Caldwell says.
“I’m sorry to see what happened to Neureka but I’m sure other organizations will eventually fill the void. The NOCI governance and administrative structure will happen regardless.”
