Industry heavyweights lose bid for national ICT centre; may locate outside of Canada

Nortel Networks Corp., IBM and Carleton University have lost a bid to establish a $31.5 million national centre of excellence focusing on next-generation Internet and communications technologies. The group, which recently failed to make the final cut for the federal government's new Centres of Excellence in Research and Commercialization (CECR) program, says they will now look to the Ontario government to fund a scaled-back initiative or move the initiative to another country. Nortel and IBM offered to contribute nearly $9 million towards the new Canadian Centre for Communications-Enabled Applications Across Any Network (CEA3N) - representing one of the larger investments in information and communications technologies (ICT) research since the tech bubble meltdown of 2001. Armed with another $15 million from the federal government and $7.5 million from partners, their goal was to anchor a global ecosystem of companies, research institutions and government entities at the leading edge of the next major wave of Internet development. Key portions of this communications-enabled applications ecosystem are being developed in the US and the opportunity to shift those resources to Canada could now be lost, say proponents. One official close to the CEA3N proposal says it's important to support this kind of initiative because it accurately targets the evolution of web services and it's industry driven. "Why, when the government says that ICT is a top priority do we continue to overwhelmingly fund health projects?" asks the official who requested anonymity. "Health research is important but it does not have the economic impact and multiplier effect of ICT. Nortel and several other companies put up real cash for an innovative OSA commercialization program but were turned down. There is some talk about moving the research to the US." Recently launched by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program, CECR was created to boost commercialization and research capacity in four key sectors identified in the federal government's science and technology strategy, including ICT, with $165 million available for the inaugural competition. CEA3N made the short list of 25 applicants that submitted full proposals. But the 11 successful centres were dominated by health with ICT left out in the cold. For Peter Carbone, VP service oriented architecture at Nortel, this was a missed opportunity for the federal government to further productivity enhancing R&D in Canada. "The ecosystem model is a flexible and progressive way to build partnerships not confined to Canada but anchored in Canada. For CECR the opportunity was too good to pass up. So we're disappointed that we lost and disappointed in the vision that demonstrates for government," he says. "The rhetoric of government is not being matched by action. It's a lot of money they're spending with this program and we need to enhance productivity and in-source to Canada. We've got the intellect but more people are required." CAE3N project leader Tony Bailetti, associate professor with Carleton's department of systems and computer engineering and director of its Masters of Engineering in Telecommunications Technology Management program doesn't understand the decision. "We got exceptionally high marks from the expert panel. The decision not to fund came later. It appears to be very close to a Cabinet-level decision," he says. Jean Claude Gavrel, associate VP of the NCE program secretariat, discounts suggestions that there was any political interference in the selection process. "Absolutely not. The whole process was driven by the criteria of the program and excellence," says Gavrel. "Their review was very high and should we have had funding for more than eleven centres they may have been included. Perhaps strong and well-established centres had the opportunity to put together better proposals." Gavrel acknowledges that the ICT priority sector was largely unsuccessful in the competition but adds that changes are being contemplated such as running a targeted competition that could boost the chances for ICT centres in future rounds. While some see political interference, others contend the CECR selection process was overloaded by the volume of applicants and a review system that favours academic research over industry-driven projects. "There was pent-up demand for commercialization projects and they were overwhelmed by the responses they received," says Jeffrey Dale, president and CEO of the Ottawa Research and Innovation Centre (OCRI). "The government doesn't appear to understand commercialization and ICT is about making money. We have a long way to go in Canada before we are able to say money and wealth are good." Despite the setback in funding, program proponents will continue to explore other avenues for financing. CEA3N officials are now looking to programs within the Ontario government but Carbone says the proposal will have to be scaled back. "CECR was a very generous program ... The Ontario government has a number of strategic opportunities and jobs programs focused on research, innovation and commercialization," he says. "We'll have to cut back on training and focus on the creation of the ecosystem. People can join us on their own coin. The plan is to go global right away to see if other countries are less risk averse. We'll look at US and South American companies. We may host it outside of Canada."

Industry heavyweights lose bid for national ICT centre; may locate outside of Canada

News | 04/07/2008 2:14 pm EDT

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